Is My Les Fleurs du mal a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Three textual points identify the first printing: "Feurs" for "Fleurs" in the running headline on pages 31 and 108; page 45 misnumbered 44; and on page 201 the last word of the first line reads "captieux" for "capiteux." Issued in yellow printed wrappers
• Carteret and Desprechins distinguish four states of the wrapper and deduce a chronology from them: the earliest states carry "Henry" for "Henri" and give the Jean de Schelandre dates as "1385-1636"; those errors are put right in the third state, and the fourth state is a wholly reset design carrying a modern-library announcement
• The printed price on the wrapper also changes between states
• A complete copy contains all six poems later condemned: Les Bijoux, Le Léthé, À celle qui est trop gaie, Lesbos, Femmes damnées, and Les Métamorphoses du vampire
• Carteret I, 118-123

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.

Is this the true first?

The French original, Paris 1857, is the true first — the census claim is correct, and there is no competing English or other-language edition of any standing. Roughly 1,100 copies of the 1,300 printed were for sale, plus about 20 hors-commerce copies on Holland paper, most signed by Baudelaire. After the August 1857 obscenity conviction the six poems were physically cut from copies then in the publisher's hands, so an intact copy retaining the six is the point that matters. The 1861 Poulet-Malassis second edition (February 1861, adding 35 new poems and the "Tableaux parisiens" section, but without the six condemned poems) is separately collected, as is Les Épaves (Belgium, 1866), which first reprinted the condemned pieces; the ban in France was not lifted until 1949.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue. The traps: mutilated 1857 copies lacking the condemned leaves offered as complete; the 1861 second edition catalogued as a "first edition" because it is the first appearance of 35 poems; and the 1868 posthumous Œuvres complètes text, which is the source of most later reprints and of the standard modern text.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Les Fleurs du mal a first edition?

A first edition of Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire (Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, Paris) is identified by: Three textual points identify the first printing: "Feurs" for "Fleurs" in the running headline on pages 31 and 108; page 45 misnumbered 44; and on page 201 the last word of the first line reads "captieux" for "capiteux." Issued in yellow printed wrappers.

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 French original, Paris 1857, is the true first — the census claim is correct, and there is no competing English or other-language edition of any standing.

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

No book-club issue. The traps: mutilated 1857 copies lacking the condemned leaves offered as complete; the 1861 second edition catalogued as a "first edition" because it is the first appearance of 35 poems; and the 1868 posthumous Œuvres complètes text, which is the source of most later reprints and of the standard modern text.

I have a first edition of Les Fleurs du mal — 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.