Is My Miss Julie (Fröken Julie: Ett naturalistiskt sorgespel) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published in book form in late November 1888 (within the week of 23-29 November)
• Title page reads: "Fröken Julie / Ett naturalistiskt sorgespel / af / August Strindberg / Med ett förord af författaren / STOCKHOLM / JOS. SELIGMANNS FÖRLAG" — the naturalist subtitle and the author's preface are both present in the first edition and are part of the issue
• Collates [xxiv] + (2, 2 blanks) + 84 pp.; issued in printed wrappers, and surviving copies are commonly rebound with the front wrapper preserved
• Recorded as Zetterlund I:40 in the standard Strindberg bibliography
• The decisive textual point runs against the usual expectation: this first edition prints Seligmann's BOWDLERIZED text, not Strindberg's
• Bonnier had refused the manuscript on 10 August 1888 as too risky and too naturalistic

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 Swedish original — Stockholm, Jos. Seligmanns Förlag, 1888 — is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed in substance. One correction: the publisher is Joseph Seligmann (1836-1904), not "Josef"; the title-page imprint reads "Jos. Seligmanns Förlag". No English edition contends, and the census's "decades later" is confirmed: the earliest English appearances are 1912-13 — "Countess Julie", tr. Edith and Warner Oland, in Plays by August Strindberg vol. I (Boston: John W. Luce & Co., 1912), and "Miss Julia", tr. Edwin Björkman, in Plays by August Strindberg, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913). Precedence between those two English texts was not established by the sources consulted and should not be asserted.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club apparatus exists for an 1888 Stockholm imprint. The reprint tells are textual rather than physical: every modern Swedish edition and the 1984 Nationalupplagan restored text are "first thus", and the presence of the uncensored readings is itself proof that a copy is not the 1888 first. A Kiepenheuer-style later-thousand statement does not apply here; check instead for the Seligmann imprint, the preface, and the 84-page text block.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Miss Julie (Fröken Julie: Ett naturalistiskt sorgespel) a first edition?

A first edition of Miss Julie (Fröken Julie: Ett naturalistiskt sorgespel) by August Strindberg (Jos. Seligmanns Förlag) is identified by: Published in book form in late November 1888 (within the week of 23-29 November).

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 Swedish original — Stockholm, Jos.

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

No book-club apparatus exists for an 1888 Stockholm imprint. The reprint tells are textual rather than physical: every modern Swedish edition and the 1984 Nationalupplagan restored text are "first thus", and the presence of the uncensored readings is itself proof that a copy is not the 1888 first. A Kiepenheuer-style later-thousand statement does not apply here; check instead for the Seligmann imprint, the preface, and the 84-page text block.

I have a first edition of Miss Julie (Fröken Julie: Ett naturalistiskt sorgespel) — 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.