Is My Finn Family Moomintroll (Trollkarlens hatt) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• No printing statement or number line is documented for this book; identification rests on the imprint, the date and the collation
• The Swedish-language first: Trollkarlens hatt, Holger Schildts Förlag, Helsingfors, 1948 — 164 pp., quarter cloth over illustrated boards with the pictorial upper cover, illustrated throughout by Jansson with vignettes and full-page drawings and a map at the title
• The first English edition — Finn Family Moomintroll, Ernest Benn Limited, London, 1950, translated by Elizabeth Portch — is in publisher's green cloth with red titling and illustration to the upper board and spine, with a large folding map and Jansson's illustrations throughout, in a pictorial dust jacket (the scarcest element) carrying a Snork Maiden image to the rear flap and the price present at the flap
• Because no impression statement is recorded, check any candidate Schildts copy for a later date or a later "upplaga" statement; a 1948-dated Schildts imprint in the collation above is the first

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
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?

The Swedish-language Finnish edition — Schildts, Helsingfors, 1948 — is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed: Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn and her Moomin firsts are Swedish-language Finnish imprints. Trollkarlens hatt is the THIRD Moomin book, not the first (Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen, 1945, precedes it, as does Kometjakten, 1946) — the census note is correct on this. The first English edition is Ernest Benn, London, 1950, translated by Elizabeth Portch; it was Benn's choice to launch the series with this title, and it was marketed as the series opener in English until the 1980s, which is why it is widely and wrongly taken for the first Moomin book. Both the Schildts 1948 and the Benn 1950 are collected. The first US appearance is under a different title — The Happy Moomins, 1951 — and the US publisher could not be confirmed.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition documented in the sources consulted. Two cautions. First, a title trap: The Happy Moomins (US, 1951) is the same text under a changed title, and the English title itself was the UK publisher's invention. Second, a text-state caution — Jansson is reported to have revised both the text and the illustrations of Trollkarlens hatt, the revised version being current by 1968; the sources consulted do not date the revision precisely or itemise the changes, so treat this as reported rather than confirmed, and do not assume a modern reprint carries the 1948 setting.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Finn Family Moomintroll (Trollkarlens hatt) a first edition?

A first edition of Finn Family Moomintroll (Trollkarlens hatt) by Tove Jansson (Holger Schildts Förlag) is identified by: No printing statement or number line is documented for this book; identification rests on the imprint, the date and the collation.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The Swedish-language Finnish edition — Schildts, Helsingfors, 1948 — is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed: Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn and her Moomin firsts are Swedish-language Finnish imprints.

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

No book-club edition documented in the sources consulted. Two cautions. First, a title trap: The Happy Moomins (US, 1951) is the same text under a changed title, and the English title itself was the UK publisher's invention. Second, a text-state caution — Jansson is reported to have revised both the text and the illustrations of Trollkarlens hatt, the revised version being current by 1968; the sources consulted do not date the revision precisely or itemise the changes, so treat this as reported

I have a first edition of Finn Family Moomintroll (Trollkarlens hatt) — 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.