Is My Dykes to Watch Out For (first collection) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing softcover, Firebrand Books, Ithaca, New York, October 1986 (ISBN 0932379176), a slim volume of roughly 78 pages in a small landscape format about 14 by 19 cm
• The full title on the book is Dykes to Watch Out For: Cartoons; this first collection gathers non-serialized strips drawn 1983 to 1986

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 indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

The strip began in the early 1980s and was syndicated by the mid-1980s; the 1986 Firebrand softcover is the first book collection and the first appearance of these cartoons in book form. Numerous later Dykes to Watch Out For collections are each first-thus of their own content.P-001200

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A mass-market softcover with no book club edition; later printings and later collections are each first-thus of their respective content, and the 1986 first printing bears the original Firebrand imprint without later-printing indicators.P-001201

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Dykes to Watch Out For (first collection) a first edition?

A first edition of Dykes to Watch Out For (first collection) by Alison Bechdel (Firebrand Books) is identified by: First edition, first printing softcover, Firebrand Books, Ithaca, New York, October 1986 (ISBN 0932379176), a slim volume of roughly 78 pages in a small landscape format about 14 by 19 cm.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. The strip began in the early 1980s and was syndicated by the mid-1980s; the 1986 Firebrand softcover is the first book collection and the first appearance of these cartoons in book form.

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

A mass-market softcover with no book club edition; later printings and later collections are each first-thus of their respective content, and the 1986 first printing bears the original Firebrand imprint without later-printing indicators.

I have a first edition of Dykes to Watch Out For (first collection) — 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.