Is My Maus II: A Survivor's Tale — And Here My Troubles Began a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Copyright page dated 1991 with 'First Edition' stated; issued in both softcover and hardcover
• Cover shows the mouse couple beneath a guard tower with a cat motif
• The hardcover features grey paper-covered boards over a black cloth spine, lettered in white

How Pantheon Books marked a first edition

• A true first has both the 'First Edition' statement and the 1 present; reprints drop 'First Edition' and/or the 1.
• Earlier Pantheon (pre-RH, founded 1942): identification by absence of additional printings and by stated 'First Edition' / 'First Printing' where present.

Full Pantheon Books 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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

US Pantheon 1991 is the true first. Completes the work that received a 1992 Special Pulitzer (Special Award in Letters). A clean stated-first hardcover in jacket is the collecting target.P-002261

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later subsumed into 'The Complete Maus' (1996); that omnibus is not the first of Vol. II. Verify the 1991 date and the stated 'First Edition.'P-002262

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Maus II: A Survivor's Tale — And Here My Troubles Began a first edition?

A first edition of Maus II: A Survivor's Tale — And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon Books) is identified by: Copyright page dated 1991 with 'First Edition' stated; issued in both softcover and hardcover.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. US Pantheon 1991 is the true first.

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

Later subsumed into 'The Complete Maus' (1996); that omnibus is not the first of Vol. II. Verify the 1991 date and the stated 'First Edition.'

I have a first edition of Maus II: A Survivor's Tale — And Here My Troubles Began — 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.