Is My Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, published anonymously ('By an American') by Cummings, Hilliard & Co., Boston, 1824 -- Child's first book, written and published while she was still in her early twenties and tackling interracial marriage and divorce themes highly unusual for American fiction of the period
• Collates iv, 5-188 pp., measuring approximately 175 x 105 mm
• Surviving copies are most often found bound in contemporary speckled calf, ruled in gilt, with all edges speckled red and a morocco spine label -- the style in which early purchasers typically had the sheets bound, since American novels of the period were not yet issued in a standardized publisher's cloth
• The book is extremely scarce today, with OCLC recording only about 26 institutional copies and the title appearing at auction only rarely in the past half-century

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. 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.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Child's own later revisions and abridgments of her early fiction for younger readers, along with 20th-century scholarly reprint anthologies (e.g., collections titled Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians), are clearly modern editorial productions distinguishable from the anonymous 1824 Cummings, Hilliard first edition.P-034407

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times a first edition?

A first edition of Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times by Lydia Maria Child (Cummings, Hilliard & Co.) is identified by: First edition, published anonymously ('By an American') by Cummings, Hilliard & Co., Boston, 1824 -- Child's first book, written and published while she was still in her early twenties and tackling interracial marriage and divorce themes highly unusual for American fiction of the period.

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.

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

Child's own later revisions and abridgments of her early fiction for younger readers, along with 20th-century scholarly reprint anthologies (e.g., collections titled Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians), are clearly modern editorial productions distinguishable from the anonymous 1824 Cummings, Hilliard first edition.

I have a first edition of Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times — 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.