Is My Nausea (La Nausée) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the 1938 Gallimard (NRF) trade printing in original off-white printed wrappers, in-8 (roughly 12 x 19 cm), 223 pp., with an achevé d'imprimer dated 5 April 1938
• It carries no edition/printing statement, so a clean first-printing achevé date and the absence of any later-printing line are the core tells; beware later Gallimard printings that look near-identical but bear a later achevé d'imprimer
• Ahead of the trade issue Gallimard pulled 63 numbered large-paper (grand papier) copies, which are the apex first-edition form: 23 on vélin pur fil (the first paper) and 40 on Alfa (the second paper), of which 15 are hors-commerce copies
• In original wrappers the trade issue is genuinely scarce (fragile wrappers; era-typical browned stock), and service de presse (review) copies exist and are prized, especially when inscribed by Sartre

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
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 genuine true first is the 1938 French La Nausée (Gallimard / NRF, Paris; achevé d'imprimer 5 April 1938) — Gaston Gallimard supplied the title, replacing Sartre's working title "Melancholia" (after Dürer's engraving). The first English translation, by Lloyd Alexander, appeared in 1949 in two forms using the same translation: the US edition from New Directions, titled Nausea (New Classics series no. 35, Alvin Lustig dust jacket, 238 pp.), and the UK edition from John Lehmann, titled The Diary of Antoine Roquentin. Collectors treat both 1949 issues as the first English; the Lehmann UK issue in jacket is the scarcer. Note that some sources (including Wikipedia's prose) mislabel the New Directions edition as The Diary of Antoine Roquentin — the physical US book is titled Nausea; the Diary title is the UK/Lehmann issue. Robert Baldick's later Penguin translation (1965), also titled Nausea, is a separate, non-first text.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No true book-club edition is the usual trap here; the hazards are format and printing rather than a book club. In French, the danger is a later Gallimard printing passed off as the 1938 original — read the achevé d'imprimer date (5 April 1938 for the true first) and watch for any added printing/edition line. Modern Gallimard "Folio" and "Blanche" reissues, and the 1981 Bibliothèque de la Pléiade text, are reading copies with no first-edition value. In English, the common conflation is treating a later New Directions paperback reprint (same Lloyd Alexander translation) as the 1949 first — it is not; note also that early US New Directions copies were printed in England in a slightly larger format. The Baldick/Penguin 1965 version is a different translation.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Nausea (La Nausée) a first edition?

A first edition of Nausea (La Nausée) by Jean-Paul Sartre (Gallimard / Nouvelle Revue Française) is identified by: The true first is the 1938 Gallimard (NRF) trade printing in original off-white printed wrappers, in-8 (roughly 12 x 19 cm), 223 pp., with an achevé d'imprimer dated 5 April 1938.

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 genuine true first is the 1938 French La Nausée (Gallimard / NRF, Paris; achevé d'imprimer 5 April 1938) — Gaston Gallimard supplied the title, replacing Sartre's working title "Melancholia" (after Dürer's engraving).

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

No true book-club edition is the usual trap here; the hazards are format and printing rather than a book club. In French, the danger is a later Gallimard printing passed off as the 1938 original — read the achevé d'imprimer date (5 April 1938 for the true first) and watch for any added printing/edition line. Modern Gallimard "Folio" and "Blanche" reissues, and the 1981 Bibliothèque de la Pléiade text, are reading copies with no first-edition value. In English, the common conflation is treating a

I have a first edition of Nausea (La Nausée) — 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.