Is My Copy of 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.P-043619

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.P-043620

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. 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.

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. (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.

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.

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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.