Is My Cuttlefish Bones (Ossi di seppia) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Piero Gobetti Editore issue, Turin, June 1925 (printed by Tipografia Carlo Accame): a slim octavo of roughly 205 x 130 mm, about 100 pages, in two-color editorial wrappers (beige/tan stock with a brown-and-gold ruled frame and black lettering on covers and spine) bearing the small editorial ornament (fregio) designed by Felice Casorati that is typical of Gobetti imprints
• The documented print run is 1,000 unnumbered copies plus a small, indefinite de luxe run on luxury paper ("carta di lusso"); a planned 15 numbered copies appears never to have been printed, as no numbered examples are recorded
• The imprint reads "Piero Gobetti Editore, Torino, 1925," and the volume gathers Montale's 43 debut poems (about a dozen previously seen in periodicals such as Primo tempo)
• Complete copies retain the initial blank leaf — dealers routinely flag its absence as a defect
• References: Barile, Bibliografia montaliana (Milan, 1977), A1
• Gambetti/Vezzosi, Rarità bibliografiche del Novecento italiano (Milan, 2007)

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The true first edition is the original-language Italian: Ossi di seppia, Piero Gobetti Editore, Turin, 1925 — the book serious collectors pursue (its original working title was Rottami). The first complete collection in English is generally taken to be Antonino Mazza's The Bones of Cuttlefish, Mosaic Press (Oakville, Ontario, Canada), 1983; the widely held standard American translation is William Arrowsmith's Cuttlefish Bones (1920-1927), W. W. Norton (New York), 1992 (US trade printing 1993; ISBN 0-393-02803-8). Individual poems reached English earlier — most notably "Arsenio," translated by Mario Praz and published in Eliot's The Criterion in 1928 — but those are periodical appearances, and earlier New Directions/Farnsworth volumes were selections, not a complete Ossi di seppia in English.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

There is no U.S. book-club (BOMC-type) edition of the Italian first to worry about; the collecting confusion here is edition precedence, not a club reprint. The real traps are later Italian printings passed off as the first: the 1928 Fratelli Ribet (Turin) SECOND edition (450 numbered copies plus 22 on handmade paper, enlarged with six added lyrics) and the 1931 R. Carabba (Lanciano) THIRD edition (with Gargiulo preface, a Scipione-illustrated wrapper, important variants, and genuine copies carrying Montale's autograph "E.M." initials) — neither is the Gobetti first. Reprints of the Einaudi collected/Meridiani text and modern anastatic facsimiles of the 1925 Gobetti also circulate; verify the "Piero Gobetti Editore, Torino, 1925" imprint, the Casorati fregio, the ~100-page collation, and the original tan wrappers rather than trusting the 1925 date alone. On the English side, the common trap is treating the 1992/93 Arrowsmith/Norton edition as the first English — Mazza's 1983 Mosaic Press book precedes it as a complete rendering.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Cuttlefish Bones (Ossi di seppia) a first edition?

A first edition of Cuttlefish Bones (Ossi di seppia) by Eugenio Montale (Piero Gobetti Editore) is identified by: The true first is the Piero Gobetti Editore issue, Turin, June 1925 (printed by Tipografia Carlo Accame): a slim octavo of roughly 205 x 130 mm, about 100 pages, in two-color editorial wrappers (beige/tan stock with a brown-and-gold ruled frame and black lettering on covers and spine) bearing the small editorial ornament (fregio) designed by Felice Casorati that is typical of Gobetti imprints.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The true first edition is the original-language Italian: Ossi di seppia, Piero Gobetti Editore, Turin, 1925 — the book serious collectors pursue (its original working title was Rottami).

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

There is no U.S. book-club (BOMC-type) edition of the Italian first to worry about; the collecting confusion here is edition precedence, not a club reprint. The real traps are later Italian printings passed off as the first: the 1928 Fratelli Ribet (Turin) SECOND edition (450 numbered copies plus 22 on handmade paper, enlarged with six added lyrics) and the 1931 R. Carabba (Lanciano) THIRD edition (with Gargiulo preface, a Scipione-illustrated wrapper, important variants, and genuine copies carr

I have a first edition of Cuttlefish Bones (Ossi di seppia) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.