Is My Discrete Series a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, published in New York by The Objectivist Press in March 1934, with the preface by Ezra Pound; collation 37 pp
• Issued in pale green cloth with a printed paper label on the spine, the fore-edge and bottom edge untrimmed, in a plain pale grey dust jacket
• No printed edition or printing statement appears in the book, so identification rests on the 1934 Objectivist Press imprint, the green cloth with spine label, the Pound preface and the collation
• The fragile grey jacket is very often absent
• Two independent ABAA-level dealer descriptions (Raritan River Books
• Compass Rose Books) agree on the green cloth, spine label, 37 pp and Pound preface

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

US only — census claim confirmed. There was no contemporaneous UK or other-language edition; The Objectivist Press (the Zukofsky / Reznikoff / Oppen imprint, whose books were underwritten directly by their authors) issued it in New York in 1934 in a small printing. Subsequent appearances are the 1966 Mother/Asphodel photographic reprint and the collected editions (Collected Poems, 1975; New Collected Poems, 2002), none of which are firsts. Print runs of roughly 500 copies are cited in the trade but could not be confirmed against a second independent source, so no figure is asserted here.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue. The standing first-thus trap is the Cleveland Mother/Asphodel reissue of 1966 — plain white wrappers with a printed dust wrapper, cover design by Leni (Magdalene Arndt) Sinclair, 36–38 pp — which states that it is 'reprinted photographically from the 1934 edition.' Because it reproduces the 1934 text and title-page it is regularly miscatalogued as the first; the binding settles it (white wrappers, not green cloth with spine label). At least one general reference conflates the 1966 wrappers with the 1934 original.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Discrete Series a first edition?

A first edition of Discrete Series by George Oppen (The Objectivist Press, New York) is identified by: First edition, published in New York by The Objectivist Press in March 1934, with the preface by Ezra Pound; collation 37 pp.

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. US only — census claim confirmed.

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

No book-club issue. The standing first-thus trap is the Cleveland Mother/Asphodel reissue of 1966 — plain white wrappers with a printed dust wrapper, cover design by Leni (Magdalene Arndt) Sinclair, 36–38 pp — which states that it is 'reprinted photographically from the 1934 edition.' Because it reproduces the 1934 text and title-page it is regularly miscatalogued as the first; the binding settles it (white wrappers, not green cloth with spine label). At least one general reference conflates the

I have a first edition of Discrete Series — 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.