Is My Lassie Come-Home a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printings state "Copyright, 1940" on the copyright page with no indication of any further printing
• Winston stated later printings explicitly, and dealers routinely catalogue copies as "First Edition
• Twenty-First Printing"
• and similar, so any stated printing number rules out the first
• The binding is bright yellow/gold pictorial cloth with Lassie's head on the front cover and black lettering to the spine, with a publisher-applied pale orange top stain and cartographic endpapers tracing Lassie's route home
• Illustrations are by Marguerite Kirmse: a color frontispiece on glossy paper plus six black-and-white plates and numerous in-text drawings; collation is approximately 248 pages, octavo

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 reversal is confirmed: although Knight was English-born, the novel appeared first in the United States — The John C. Winston Company, 1940, illustrated by Marguerite Kirmse. The first UK edition is Cassell & Company, London, 1941 (brown cloth, priced jacket, with the Kirmse frontispiece and map endpapers) and is collected as the first British edition only. Precedence for the story itself runs earlier still: "Lassie Come-Home" first appeared as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post, 17 December 1938, which Knight later expanded into the 1940 novel — the magazine appearance is the first appearance in print, the Winston 1940 the first in book form. Cited in Carpenter & Prichard 304.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A People's Book Club (Chicago) issue carrying the 1940 copyright is recorded and is a club reprint, not the first. Grosset & Dunlap reprints of the text exist and are self-identifying by imprint. Winston's own later printings state the printing number on the copyright page; a stated "Copyright, 1940" with nothing further is the first-printing condition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Lassie Come-Home a first edition?

A first edition of Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight (The John C. Winston Company) is identified by: First printings state "Copyright, 1940" on the copyright page with no indication of any further printing; Winston stated later printings explicitly, and dealers routinely catalogue copies as "First Edition; Twenty-First Printing" (1945) and similar, so any stated printing number rules out the first.

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 reversal is confirmed: although Knight was English-born, the novel appeared first in the United States — The John C.

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

A People's Book Club (Chicago) issue carrying the 1940 copyright is recorded and is a club reprint, not the first. Grosset & Dunlap reprints of the text exist and are self-identifying by imprint. Winston's own later printings state the printing number on the copyright page; a stated "Copyright, 1940" with nothing further is the first-printing condition.

I have a first edition of Lassie Come-Home — 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.