Is My From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Paris, published 25 October 1865, in one volume, in-18 format (approx
• 11.5 x 18.2 cm), 302 pages plus an errata leaf and 17 pages of extract from the Hetzel bookshop catalogue; issued in demi-percaline chagrinée with smooth spine, gilt fillets and gilt author and title
• THE CRITICAL POINT: the 1865 first edition is NOT illustrated
• The illustrated grand in-8 Hetzel edition, with 41 engravings and a map by Henri de Montaut engraved by François de Pannemaker, did not appear until 1868, when the title was also revised from "Trajet direct en 97 heures" to "Trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes"; the 1868 illustrated printing is noted for the inversion of the illustrations at pages 25 and 32
• The text was serialized in the Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, September–October 1865, preceding the book
• Verne himself gave copies of the plain in-18 to friends rather than the larger in-8

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 British 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?

French original; Hetzel (Paris) 1865, in-18, is the true first — the census is right on publisher and year but wrong on what to look for, on two counts. (a) FIRST-THUS / CARTONNAGE TRAP: the census says "Hetzel cartonnage variants drive value". The celebrated Hetzel decorated cartonnages are 1868 and later; they are illustrated editions that postdate the true first and carry no precedence. The priority edition is the plain, unillustrated 1865 in-18 — the opposite of what a cartonnage-hunting eye would select. (b) The first English-language edition is NOT the Sampson Low 1873. It is "From the Earth to the Moon: Passage Direct in 97 Hours and 20 Minutes", translated by J. K. Hoyt, Newark, N.J.: The Newark Printing and Publishing Company, 1869 — large octavo, pp. [1-3] 4-84, printed in double columns with an inserted frontispiece, in publisher's green wrappers printed in black, no statement of printing. It first ran in seventeen installments in the Newark Daily and Weekly Journal from 10 June 1869 and was issued in wrappers later that year. Both L. W. Currey and John W. Knott catalogue it as the first edition in English and a legendary rarity, the Library of Congress holding one of only a few known copies. The Sampson Low (London) 1873 "From the Earth to the Moon Direct in 97 Hours 20 Minutes: and a Trip Round It" (trans. Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King; frontispiece and seventy-seven plates) is the first British book edition and the first English edition to combine this novel with Autour de la Lune, but it is not the first in English, and the Mercier/King translation deletes roughly 20% of Verne's French text.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

For Verne the governing trap is the Hetzel cartonnage — decorated pictorial boards issued in many types across several decades. These are later illustrated issues, not the 1865 first; a cartonnage can postdate the true first by decades and is dated by binding type and by the bound-in catalogue. Later Hetzel double volumes pairing De la Terre à la Lune with Autour de la Lune begin in 1872 in French. In English, the abridged Mercier/King text was reprinted for over a century by numerous publishers and is the common reprint text; a copy set from it is a reprint regardless of imprint date.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune) a first edition?

A first edition of From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune) by Jules Verne (Pierre-Jules Hetzel) is identified by: True first: Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Paris, published 25 October 1865, in one volume, in-18 format (approx.

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. French original; Hetzel (Paris) 1865, in-18, is the true first — the census is right on publisher and year but wrong on what to look for, on two counts.

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

For Verne the governing trap is the Hetzel cartonnage — decorated pictorial boards issued in many types across several decades. These are later illustrated issues, not the 1865 first; a cartonnage can postdate the true first by decades and is dated by binding type and by the bound-in catalogue. Later Hetzel double volumes pairing De la Terre à la Lune with Autour de la Lune begin in 1872 in French. In English, the abridged Mercier/King text was reprinted for over a century by numerous publishers

I have a first edition of From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune) — 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.