Is My Enough Rope a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: Boni & Liveright, New York, 1926
• The identification point is clean and decisive, because Boni & Liveright printed a cumulative printing history on the copyright page and added a line for each new printing
• The true first printing's copyright page reads "Copyright, 1926, by BONI AND LIVERIGHT, INC. All Rights of Reproduction Reserved" followed by the single line "First printing, December, 1926" and nothing beneath it
• Every later printing carries that line plus its own and all intervening ones — "Second printing, January, 1927," "Third printing, February, 1927," and so on through at least "Thirteenth printing, July, 1928." Count the lines: one line only is the first; two or more lines is not
• Title page reads "ENOUGH ROPE / Poems by / DOROTHY PARKER / NEW YORK / BONI & LIVERIGHT / 1926." Dedication: "To Elinor Wylie." Binding is a slim octavo in quarter (half) black cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, over orange-and-black patterned/marbled paper-covered boards
• The dust jacket is grey paper, and the price should be present at the flap; dealers describe the jacket lettering inconsistently (yellow in some records, dark blue in others) and some of those descriptions attach to later-printing copies, so jacket ink colour should not be used as a first-printing test — the copyright-page line count is the test

How Boni & Liveright, New York marked a first edition

• No statement of printing on the copyright page of firsts; later printings designated 'second printing', etc.
• Therefore: absence of any later-printing notice = first printing (for the vintage era).

Full Boni & Liveright, New York 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. 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 American 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?

American-only true first; the census claim is confirmed. Boni & Liveright, New York, 1926 is the first edition of Parker's first book and her first and most collected verse volume, gathering verses previously printed in Life, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York World. No British edition holds or contests priority, and there is no original-language question — Parker wrote in English and published first in New York. There is accordingly no UK-vs-US precedence trap here; the only precedence question a cataloguer faces is printing, not edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. The dominant trap is printing, not club: Enough Rope was a genuine bestseller — thirteen printings inside about nineteen months, December 1926 to July 1928, and reported sales in the tens of thousands — so the overwhelming majority of copies dated 1926 or 1927 on the title page are later printings of the first edition, and dealers openly list sixth-printing and eleventh-printing copies. A title page dated 1926 proves nothing on its own; the copyright page decides. Later Boni & Liveright printings retain the 1926 title-page date. Modern reprints (Dover, Penguin Random House, Warbler Press) carry ISBNs and are unmistakable.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Enough Rope a first edition?

A first edition of Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker (Boni & Liveright, New York) is identified by: First edition, first printing: Boni & Liveright, New York, 1926.

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. American-only true first; the census claim is confirmed.

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

No book-club issue is documented. The dominant trap is printing, not club: Enough Rope was a genuine bestseller — thirteen printings inside about nineteen months, December 1926 to July 1928, and reported sales in the tens of thousands — so the overwhelming majority of copies dated 1926 or 1927 on the title page are later printings of the first edition, and dealers openly list sixth-printing and eleventh-printing copies. A title page dated 1926 proves nothing on its own; the copyright page decide

I have a first edition of Enough Rope — 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.