Is My Ethica (in Opera Posthuma) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Quarto, 1677
• The defining point is what the title page does NOT say: it reads "B.d.S. Opera Posthuma, Quorum series post Praefationem exhibetur" with a woodcut device and the date MDCLXXVII, but names no author beyond the initials B.d.S., and gives no place of printing and no printer or bookseller
• The Amsterdam / Jan Rieuwertsz attribution is bibliographic, not printed — bibliographical research (Jagersma, Quaerendo 43
• Van de Ven, Printing Spinoza) identifies the Amsterdam printer Israël de Paull working for Jan Rieuwertsz the elder
• Contents in one volume: Jarig Jelles's unsigned Praefatio, then Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (first appearance in print), Tractatus politicus, Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, the Epistolae with the author's replies, and the separately paginated Compendium grammatices linguae Hebraeae; dealer collations run approximately [40], 614, [32]; [2], 112, [8] pp., with contents and errata leaves at the end
• Van de Ven records the volume in ordinary-paper and large-paper states

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. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 Latin Opera Posthuma (1677) is the true first of the Ethics and the original-language text. Its Dutch twin, De Nagelate Schriften van B.d.S. (1677), was prepared by the same circle and printed for the same bookseller and appeared alongside it; both are dated 1677 and both are collected — the Latin as the original, the Dutch as the first edition in Dutch. There is no contemporary English edition: the Ethics reached print in English only in the 1880s, with W. Hale White's Ethic (London: Trübner, 1883) the first published English translation and R.H.M. Elwes's version in The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza vol. II (London: George Bell & Sons, 1883–84) close behind. George Eliot's 1856 English rendering stayed unpublished for well over a century, so it is not a print precedent.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club tradition exists for this title. The realistic look-alikes are later collected editions of Spinoza's works and 20th-century photographic reprints of the 1677 sheets, plus the many modern English translations of the Ethics. Any volume whose title page carries a printed place or publisher, a date other than MDCLXXVII, an author's name spelled out rather than the initials B.d.S., or English text, is not the 1677 Opera Posthuma.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Ethica (in Opera Posthuma) a first edition?

A first edition of Ethica (in Opera Posthuma) by Baruch Spinoza (Printed by Israël de Paull for Jan Rieuwertsz, Amsterdam) is identified by: The defining point is what the title page does NOT say: it reads "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. The Latin Opera Posthuma (1677) is the true first of the Ethics and the original-language text.

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

No book-club tradition exists for this title. The realistic look-alikes are later collected editions of Spinoza's works and 20th-century photographic reprints of the 1677 sheets, plus the many modern English translations of the Ethics. Any volume whose title page carries a printed place or publisher, a date other than MDCLXXVII, an author's name spelled out rather than the initials B.d.S., or English text, is not the 1677 Opera Posthuma.

I have a first edition of Ethica (in 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.