Is My Ethica (first printed in B.d.S. Opera Posthuma) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The title page is the point: it reads only "B.D.S. Opera Posthuma, quorum series post praefationem exhibetur", with a woodcut device and no place of publication and no publisher named — the imprint was deliberately suppressed, and the author is identified by initials alone
• Amsterdam and Jan Rieuwertsz are a bibliographic reconstruction, which is why every responsible catalogue record brackets them: "[Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz], 1677"
• A title page that prints Amsterdam or Rieuwertsz openly is not this book
• Collation [40], 614, [32]; [2], 112, [8] pp., set in roman, italic and Hebrew type, with woodcut text illustrations and contents plus errata leaves at the end; the Compendium Grammatices Linguae Hebraeae has its own signatures and pagination
• This volume carries the first printing of the Ethica along with the Tractatus Politicus, Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione, Epistolae and the Hebrew grammar
• Contemporary stiff vellum with a manuscript spine title is the usual contemporary binding

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. 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. 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.
5. 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?

Amsterdam 1677 Latin is the true first, but it does not stand alone: the Dutch De Nagelate Schriften van B.d.S. (Glazemaker's translation, Kingma & Offenberg 25) was published simultaneously in 1677, not afterward — the editorial team delivered both copy-texts to the printer together, and scholars decline to award precedence to either. Both are collected as first editions of their respective languages; the Dutch volume omits the Hebrew grammar and is therefore not a complete counterpart. There is no contemporary English edition to compete: the Ethics did not reach print in English until 1883, when W. Hale White (Trübner, London) and R.H.M. Elwes (George Bell, Bohn's Philosophical Library) both appeared — precedence between those two within 1883 is not established by the sources consulted. George Eliot's 1854-56 English translation went unpublished in her lifetime.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition exists for a 1677 quarto. The reprint tells that matter: the work was banned in Holland in 1678 and placed on the Index in 1679, so later 17th- and 18th-century appearances are separate editions, not printings. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarly editions (Paulus; Van Vloten & Land; Gebhardt) and modern anastatic/photographic facsimiles of the 1677 sheets circulate and are what donors realistically hold — a facsimile reproduces the imprint-less title page faithfully, so judge on paper, type impression and binding rather than on the title page alone.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Ethica (first printed in B.d.S. Opera Posthuma) a first edition?

A first edition of Ethica (first printed in B.d.S. Opera Posthuma) by Baruch Spinoza ([Jan Rieuwertsz], Amsterdam) is identified by: The title page is the point: it reads only "B.D.S.

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. Amsterdam 1677 Latin is the true first, but it does not stand alone: the Dutch De Nagelate Schriften van B.d.S.

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

No book-club edition exists for a 1677 quarto. The reprint tells that matter: the work was banned in Holland in 1678 and placed on the Index in 1679, so later 17th- and 18th-century appearances are separate editions, not printings. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarly editions (Paulus; Van Vloten & Land; Gebhardt) and modern anastatic/photographic facsimiles of the 1677 sheets circulate and are what donors realistically hold — a facsimile reproduces the imprint-less title page faithfully,

I have a first edition of Ethica (first printed in B.d.S. Opera Posthuma) — 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.