Is My Nostromo a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First English edition, Harper & Brothers, London, published on or about 14 October 1904 (the British Museum deposit copy was received 18 October); the novel had been serialised in T.P.'s Weekly from January to October 1904
• Approximately 2,000 copies were printed
• The title page is dated 1904 with no further printings listed and no number line
• The identifying typographic point is at p
• 187, which is misnumbered 871; the final page is correctly numbered 480
• Binding is dark blue cloth, the front cover printed in light blue, the spine lettered in gilt

How Harper & Brothers marked a first edition

• 1912-1949: month/year letter code on copyright page. Month: A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar, D=Apr, E=May, F=Jun, G=Jul, H=Aug, I=Sep, K=Oct, L=Nov, M=Dec (J skipped).
• Year code (J skipped): M=1912, N=1913 ... Z=1925, then A=1926, B=1927 ... Z=1950 (cycles).

Full Harper & Brothers first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
3. Verify this is the American 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 census claim is correct in outcome but imprecise in wording: the London Harper printing of October 1904 does precede the New York one, but the American is a separately set edition rather than a second "issue" of the same sheets. The first American edition is Harper & Brothers, New York, 1904 (Cagle A10b / A10b.1; Keating 62; Supino A10.6.0), bound in green cloth decorated in orange and black, with its own point at p. 201, where "Europe" is misspelled "Eruope." The American text carries Conrad's revisions to the serial but differs from the English first in punctuation, capitalization and even paragraphing. Both are collected; the London printing is the true first, and the two are told apart at a glance by cloth colour — dark blue (English) versus green with orange and black (American).

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented for 1904. Reprint tells to watch are the later Doubleday and Dent collected-edition volumes and the Modern Library issue, all of which are "first thus" only. A copy in green cloth decorated in orange and black is the American edition, not the English first, however the title page reads.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Nostromo a first edition?

A first edition of Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (Harper & Brothers) is identified by: First English edition, Harper & Brothers, London, published on or about 14 October 1904 (the British Museum deposit copy was received 18 October); the novel had been serialised in T.P.'s Weekly from January to October 1904.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The census claim is correct in outcome but imprecise in wording: the London Harper printing of October 1904 does precede the New York one, but the American is a separately set edition rather than a second "issue" of the same sheets.

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

No book-club edition is documented for 1904. Reprint tells to watch are the later Doubleday and Dent collected-edition volumes and the Modern Library issue, all of which are "first thus" only. A copy in green cloth decorated in orange and black is the American edition, not the English first, however the title page reads.

I have a first edition of Nostromo — 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.