Is My Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Viking, New York, February 2006, ISBN 0-670-03471-1
• , 334 pages, octavo (approx
• 23.5 cm); dealers describe speckled white boards with a red spine and gilt spine lettering
• Dealers identify the first printing solely by the number line rather than by any edition statement — Viking/Penguin does not state "First Edition." The line is printed in Penguin's alternating odd-even form, "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2"; the presence of the 1 identifies the first printing, and a second printing reads "3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2." This matters practically: the Penguin line does not descend to 1 in the conventional way, so a collector who has been taught to look for a line "ending in 1" will misread it
• Any copy whose lowest surviving number is 3 or higher is a later printing
• Illustrated jacket, priced jacket / price present at the flap, unclipped, not remainder-marked

How Viking marked a first edition

• From about 1937 onward: first printings state "First published by The Viking Press in [year]" or "Published by The Viking Press in [year]" with no later-printing notice; later printings were noted, and from the 1980s a n…

Full Viking 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?

The US Viking edition (New York, February 2006) is the true first edition, and it is the only edition with any claim to the first. The UK Bloomsbury edition followed on 5 March 2007, ISBN 0-7475-8566-0 (9780747585664), and was issued as a paperback — it has neither precedence nor standing as a collected first, so unlike most US/UK pairs there is no second edition to name here. The census note is correct as written. Later Penguin paperbacks, the Bloomsbury Modern Classics reissue and the 2010 film-tie-in issues are all "first thus" at best.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the Viking first is documented in the sources consulted. The reprint tells that matter are the number line — lowest number 3 or higher means a later printing — plus remainder marks and price-clipped jackets, which turn up on the many printings that followed the 2007-2010 bestseller and film run. Given how heavily this title was reprinted from identical plates, the number line is effectively the only point: the boards, jacket art and ISBN are unchanged across printings.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia a first edition?

A first edition of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking) is identified by: Viking, New York, February 2006, ISBN 0-670-03471-1 (9780670034710), 334 pages, octavo (approx.

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). The US Viking edition (New York, February 2006) is the true first edition, and it is the only edition with any claim to the first.

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

No book-club issue of the Viking first is documented in the sources consulted. The reprint tells that matter are the number line — lowest number 3 or higher means a later printing — plus remainder marks and price-clipped jackets, which turn up on the many printings that followed the 2007-2010 bestseller and film run. Given how heavily this title was reprinted from identical plates, the number line is effectively the only point: the boards, jacket art and ISBN are unchanged across printings.

I have a first edition of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia — 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.