Is My Happy Days a First Edition?

The points of issue

• CORRECTION to the census framing: the Grove first is a PAPERBACK ORIGINAL, not a hardcover
• It was issued in stiff glossy pictorial wrappers as an Evergreen paperback, catalogue number E-318, 1961, 64 pp., and was NOT issued simultaneously in a clothbound state — an ABAA dealer states this explicitly as characteristic of Grove Press productions of the period
• Anyone hunting a Grove hardcover of Happy Days in cloth and jacket is hunting a book that does not exist, and any clothbound "Grove Happy Days" offered as a first should be treated as misdescribed until proven
• First-printing identification: Grove notes first editions and subsequent printings on the copyright page, so the first shows the stated first Evergreen edition with no additional printing noted; dealers describe copies as "stated first Evergreen edition with no additional printings mentioned." Because the book is a wrappers original, condition points are the wrappers themselves — there is no jacket and therefore no flap price to consult on the Grove issue

How Grove Press, New York marked a first edition

• First editions and later printings are noted on the copyright page; the modern practice uses a number row/printer's key, with the presence of '1' (or the lowest digit) indicating a first printing.
• Grove added a number row around 1969 (initially on the last page before the rear free endpaper, later on the copyright page) but often failed to remove a 'First Edition' statement from reprints — so a 'First Edition' lin…

Full Grove Press, New York first-edition guide →

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 US 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?

US true first: Grove Press, New York, 1961 — the census claim is confirmed on precedence, and its reasoning is sound. Beckett wrote Happy Days in English, so Grove precedes both the UK and the French, which is indeed the reverse of the Godot pattern; the world premiere was at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York, on 17 September 1961. The first English (UK) edition is Faber and Faber, London, 1962 — publisher's red cloth, gilt titling to the spine, 48 pp., in a photographic dust jacket, and it is the first hardcover appearance of the play in any market, which makes it independently collectible alongside the Grove wrappers original; note that Wikipedia dates the Faber to 1963, but the dealer consensus (Shapero, Ulysses, James Cummins) is firmly 1962 and Wikipedia should not be followed here. Beckett's own French version, Oh les beaux jours, followed from Les Éditions de Minuit in 1963 — a translation by the author, not a competing original. Both the Grove 1961 and the Faber 1962 are collected; the Faber is catalogued in the Beckett bibliography as Federman/Fletcher 39.1, "First Edition in England."

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted for either the Grove or the Faber edition — unsurprising for a slim avant-garde play text, and the Grove issue's wrappers format makes a club printing inapplicable. The live reprint trap is not a club edition but format confusion: later Grove/Evergreen printings and the Faber reissues (later ISBNs 9780571229161, 9780571244577, 9780571297030) are routinely offered as "first editions" on the strength of the 1961 or 1962 copyright date. Read the Grove copyright page for the absence of any additional printing statement; on Faber, confirm the 1962 date and the red cloth.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Happy Days a first edition?

A first edition of Happy Days by Samuel Beckett (Grove Press, New York) is identified by: CORRECTION to the census framing: the Grove first is a PAPERBACK ORIGINAL, not a hardcover.

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. US true first: Grove Press, New York, 1961 — the census claim is confirmed on precedence, and its reasoning is sound.

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

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted for either the Grove or the Faber edition — unsurprising for a slim avant-garde play text, and the Grove issue's wrappers format makes a club printing inapplicable. The live reprint trap is not a club edition but format confusion: later Grove/Evergreen printings and the Faber reissues (later ISBNs 9780571229161, 9780571244577, 9780571297030) are routinely offered as "first editions" on the strength of the 1961 or 1962 copyright date. Read

I have a first edition of Happy Days — 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.