Is My Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain a First Edition?

The points of issue

• No edition statement — Oxford University Press stated nothing on first editions until the late 1980s but did note subsequent printings, so absence of any later-impression statement is the governing point
• The title page must carry the imprint sequence "London, New York, Toronto"; this is the accepted first-printing point
• Large format quarto/folio, [66] pp., printed on one side of the leaf only; original pictorial boards with titles to the front cover in red
• Colour offset lithography throughout — an early and important example of the process; the sheets were printed in the United States and the text was hand-lettered by Grace Allen Hogarth, an editor in the OUP New York office
• The first-issue dust wrapper has blank flaps with no reviews printed on them; wrappers are fragile and frequently chipped or absent
• This was Ardizzone's first book as both author and illustrator; the complete colour draft is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum

How Oxford University Press marked a first edition

• Until the late 1980s OUP made NO affirmative first-edition statement; first printings carried only the copyright/publication line, while LATER printings were noted ('Reprinted 19xx,' 'Second impression') on the copyright…
• From the late 1980s OUP adopted a number row/line on the copyright page; the lowest number present indicates the printing ('1' = first).

Full Oxford University Press 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 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?

Correcting the census note: this is not separate UK and US editions but a single Oxford University Press edition of 1936 issued under one imprint reading London, New York, Toronto, with the sheets printed in the United States. There is therefore no UK-vs-US precedence contest — the 1936 OUP issue is the true first. The major trap is the 1955 edition (Oxford University Press in the UK; Henry Z. Walck, Inc., New York in the US), which was completely redesigned and redrawn with additional text: a "first thus" of a different work, not a reprint of the 1936 text.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A 1944 wrappered issue exists and is not the first. The 1955 Walck / OUP redrawn second edition — quarto, 26 cm, 48 pp., light red publisher's cloth in a colour pictorial dust wrapper — is the commonest misidentification and is frequently offered as a first. Puffin and later paperback issues are reprints.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain a first edition?

A first edition of Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone (Oxford University Press) is identified by: No edition statement — Oxford University Press stated nothing on first editions until the late 1980s but did note subsequent printings, so absence of any later-impression statement is the governing point.

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. Correcting the census note: this is not separate UK and US editions but a single Oxford University Press edition of 1936 issued under one imprint reading London, New York, Toronto, with the sheets printed in the United States.

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

A 1944 wrappered issue exists and is not the first. The 1955 Walck / OUP redrawn second edition — quarto, 26 cm, 48 pp., light red publisher's cloth in a colour pictorial dust wrapper — is the commonest misidentification and is frequently offered as a first. Puffin and later paperback issues are reprints.

I have a first edition of Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain — 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.