Is My Copy of Dog Man a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printing: Graphix (Scholastic), New York, 2016, 240 pp., full-colour comic on glossy stock, pictorial laminated boards, issued WITHOUT a dust jacket — 'no jacket as issued', so a copy offered in a jacket is wrong for this title and there is no jacket price point to check
• The copyright page of the first printing carries a complete number line including the numeral 1 together with the printing statement 'First edition, September 2016'; later printings advance the number line and alter that date line
• This is the point that matters, because the series became a commercial juggernaut and the overwhelming majority of 2016-dated copies in the trade are later printings of the same first edition — dealers explicitly catalogue copies as 'first edition, later printing'
• Neither the boards, the endpapers nor the 2016 date distinguishes a first printing

How Graphix / Scholastic marked a first edition

• Full number line on copyright page; first printing includes/begins effectively with '1' — Scholastic uses interleaved year/printing strings (e.g. '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' followed by year codes). If the printing portion…
• Frequently states the edition: e.g. 'First American edition, October 1998' (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Full Graphix / Scholastic first-edition guide →

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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 true first: Graphix (Scholastic), New York, published late August 2016 (the copyright-page printing line reads September 2016). There is no precedence contest: the Scholastic UK issue, 'Dog Man #1: Dog Man' (ISBN 9781407140391), is a paperback dated 6 July 2017, nearly a year later. Flag a distinct first-appearance trap that is not a first-edition question: the Dog Man character originated as a comic-within-a-comic drawn by George Beard and Harold Hutchins inside Pilkey's Captain Underpants books before this standalone graphic novel — those Captain Underpants volumes are the character's first appearance but are not editions of Dog Man.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No conventional hardcover book-club edition is documented. The reprint field is instead dominated by Scholastic school book-fair and book-club printings, boxed sets, and the later reissue under ISBN 9781338741032 — all later printings or reissues rather than firsts, and identifiable by a differing ISBN or barcode on the board. Since the title is issued without a jacket, the usual club/fair jacket tells do not apply: place the copy by the number line and the 'First edition, September 2016' statement.P-042770

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Dog Man a first edition?

A first edition of Dog Man by Dav Pilkey (Graphix / Scholastic) is identified by: First printing: Graphix (Scholastic), New York, 2016, 240 pp., full-colour comic on glossy stock, pictorial laminated boards, issued WITHOUT a dust jacket — 'no jacket as issued', so a copy offered in a jacket is wrong for this title and there is no jacket price point to check.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). US-only true first: Graphix (Scholastic), New York, published late August 2016 (the copyright-page printing line reads September 2016).

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

No conventional hardcover book-club edition is documented. The reprint field is instead dominated by Scholastic school book-fair and book-club printings, boxed sets, and the later reissue under ISBN 9781338741032 — all later printings or reissues rather than firsts, and identifiable by a differing ISBN or barcode on the board.

I have a first edition of Dog Man — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.