Is My History of Plymouth Plantation a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first printing of the text is in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th series, volume III, Boston, 1856, edited with notes by Charles Deane and described as 'Now first printed from the original manuscript.' The separately-issued volume — Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1856; xix, 476 pp
• 25 cm — is a reissue of the greater part of that Collections volume, and its own title page states the fact: 'Reprinted from the Massachusetts Historical Collections
• Edited, with notes, by Charles Deane.' That title-page wording is the identification point separating the separate issue from the Collections appearance
• Whether the separate issue was printed from the same setting of type as the Collections sheets is not established in the sources consulted and is not asserted here
• No first-state text errors, binding variants or issue points beyond the title-page statement are documented

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 UK 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?

The census attribution — 'Little, Brown (for the Massachusetts Historical Society)' as the true first — is imprecise and is corrected here. Precedence runs to the Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 4th series, vol. III (Boston, 1856); the Little, Brown volume of the same year is the separate reissue, and says so on its title page. Both are 1856 and both are collected, but a copy sold as 'the true first' should be the Collections appearance. There is no UK, foreign-language or earlier edition to weigh: the work is in English and had never been printed. The manuscript, written 1630-51, disappeared from Boston around the British evacuation in 1776 and was identified in 1855 in the Bishop of London's library at Fulham Palace after a citation to the 'Fulham MS History' in Samuel Wilberforce's 1844 history was noticed in a Boston bookshop; Deane edited not from the manuscript, which was not returned, but from a copy secured from London. Sources consulted differ on whether that copy was a manuscript transcript or a photographic facsimile, so the point is left open.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue applies to an 1856 Boston imprint. The reprint field is crowded and modern: the 'Original Narratives of Early American History' series issue, Classic Reprint and Forgotten Books facsimiles, and Project Gutenberg-derived texts are all late reissues carrying no precedence. Within 1856 itself, the operative distinction is the Collections appearance versus the Little, Brown separate, identified by the latter's 'Reprinted from the Massachusetts Historical Collections' title-page statement.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of History of Plymouth Plantation a first edition?

A first edition of History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford (Massachusetts Historical Society) is identified by: The true first printing of the text is in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th series, volume III, Boston, 1856, edited with notes by Charles Deane and described as 'Now first printed from the original manuscript.' The separately-issued volume — Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1856; xix, 476 pp; 25 cm — is a reissue of the greater part of that Collections volume, and its own title page states the fact: 'Reprinted from the Massachusetts Historical…

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 census attribution — 'Little, Brown (for the Massachusetts Historical Society)' as the true first — is imprecise and is corrected here.

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

No book-club issue applies to an 1856 Boston imprint. The reprint field is crowded and modern: the 'Original Narratives of Early American History' series issue, Classic Reprint and Forgotten Books facsimiles, and Project Gutenberg-derived texts are all late reissues carrying no precedence. Within 1856 itself, the operative distinction is the Collections appearance versus the Little, Brown separate, identified by the latter's 'Reprinted from the Massachusetts Historical Collections' title-page st

I have a first edition of History of Plymouth Plantation — 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.