Is My Copy of 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…

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?

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.P-042792

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. 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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.