Is My Fathers and Sons a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The text first appeared in print in Russkiy Vestnik (The Russian Herald), Moscow, February 1862; the first separate edition followed the same year from the press of V. Grachiova (V. Grachev & Co.), Moscow, 1862, 304 pages
• The book text is not the magazine text: for the separate edition Turgenev added the dedication to the critic Belinsky and revised passages of Bazarov's characterisation, so the Belinsky dedication leaf is the primary tell that a copy is the separate first rather than a made-up serial extract
• The first edition in English is Leypoldt & Holt, New York, 1867, translated by Eugene Schuyler, a 12mo in publisher's gilt-stamped cloth (green cloth recorded on trade copies)
• No edition statement is recorded for the 1867 issue, so identification rests on the Leypoldt & Holt imprint and the 1867 title-page date; dealers describe firsts simply as 'First Edition, First Printing'

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. 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?

Russian is the true first: Moscow, 1862 (Grachev), preceded in print by the Russkiy Vestnik serial of February 1862. For English-language collectors the first is American — Leypoldt & Holt, New York, 1867 (Schuyler) — and it precedes the first British edition, which dealer bibliographies place at 1883; both the Moscow 1862 and the New York 1867 are collected. Turgenev's own French translation made with Louis Viardot (1863) precedes the English and is a separate collecting point; Schuyler acknowledged consulting it, and textual comparison indicates he leaned on the French more often than the Russian.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for either the 1862 Moscow or the 1867 New York edition. The recurring traps are 'first thus' reprints of the Schuyler text and the later English translations — Constance Garnett's of the 1890s, and the Modern Library, Everyman and Limited Editions Club issues — which are routinely offered as 'first editions' of the title. Soviet-era and modern Russian reprints of Otsy i deti are common and carry the 1862 date only as a text date, not an imprint date.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Fathers and Sons a first edition?

A first edition of Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (Tip. V. Grachiova) is identified by: The text first appeared in print in Russkiy Vestnik (The Russian Herald), Moscow, February 1862; the first separate edition followed the same year from the press of V.

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. Russian is the true first: Moscow, 1862 (Grachev), preceded in print by the Russkiy Vestnik serial of February 1862.

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

No book-club issue is documented for either the 1862 Moscow or the 1867 New York edition. The recurring traps are 'first thus' reprints of the Schuyler text and the later English translations — Constance Garnett's of the 1890s, and the Modern Library, Everyman and Limited Editions Club issues — which are routinely offered as 'first editions' of the title. Soviet-era and modern Russian reprints of Otsy i deti are common and carry the 1862 date only as a text date, not an imprint date.

I have a first edition of Fathers and Sons — 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.