Is My Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 2009 (the title is from Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell); the novel was nominated for the Nike in 2010, and the Wydawnictwo Literackie imprint with the 2009 copyright line is the identification
• The first edition in English is Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, published 12 September 2018, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones — a paperback original of 272 pages in the house's plain blue flapped ('French flap') wrapper with white sans-serif lettering, ISBN 978-1-910695-71-5
• The publisher's own listing records only flapped paperback, paperback, ebook and audiobook formats for this title, so a trade hardback is not a Fitzcarraldo first
• No number line or printing statement is documented for the Fitzcarraldo issue in the sources consulted; identification rests on the Fitzcarraldo imprint, the 'first published in 2018' line on the copyright page and the original ISBN, and dealers describe firsts as 'First UK Edition/First Printing'
• Signed copies (author and translator) are in the trade and are not themselves a printing point

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. 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 UK 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?

Polish is the true first (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 2009). The census is correct that the UK precedes for English: Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, 12 September 2018 precedes the American edition — Riverhead Books, New York, 13 August 2019, hardcover, ISBN 978-0-525-54133-2 — by eleven months; both the Fitzcarraldo and the Riverhead are collected, the Fitzcarraldo as the first in English and the Riverhead as the US first. One correction of framing: the Fitzcarraldo edition preceded the Nobel rather than being driven by it — the Swedish Academy announced Tokarczuk's postponed 2018 prize in October 2019, thirteen months after UK publication and two months after US publication; the International Booker shortlisting came in 2019.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. The reprint tells are the Fitzcarraldo 'International Edition' (ISBN 978-1-913097-25-7, 2019) and the plain non-flapped Fitzcarraldo paperback, both later issues distinct from the 2018 flapped first, plus the Riverhead paperback of 2020 (ISBN 978-0-525-54134-9). Post-Nobel Fitzcarraldo printings look identical to the first from the outside — the house design does not change between printings — so check the ISBN and the copyright page rather than the cover.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead a first edition?

A first edition of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków) is identified by: The true first is Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 2009 (the title is from Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell); the novel was nominated for the Nike in 2010, and the Wydawnictwo Literackie imprint with the 2009 copyright line is the identification.

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). Polish is the true first (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 2009).

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

No book-club issue is documented. The reprint tells are the Fitzcarraldo 'International Edition' (ISBN 978-1-913097-25-7, 2019) and the plain non-flapped Fitzcarraldo paperback, both later issues distinct from the 2018 flapped first, plus the Riverhead paperback of 2020 (ISBN 978-0-525-54134-9). Post-Nobel Fitzcarraldo printings look identical to the first from the outside — the house design does not change between printings — so check the ISBN and the copyright page rather than the cover.

I have a first edition of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — 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.