Is My Old Jules a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printing carries "First Published October, 1935" on the copyright page with no later printing noted below it
• This matches Little, Brown's 1930s practice of stating "Published [month] [year]" on firsts and adding reprint lines on subsequent printings
• There is NO printing number row: Little, Brown did not adopt one until the late 1970s, so any listing citing a "number line" on a 1935 copy is in error and that claim is refuted here
• A December 1935 reprint followed within the same year, so the copyright-page line — not the 1935 date on its own — is the test
• Collation: octavo, [x], 424 pp., issued as "An Atlantic Monthly Press Book" through Little, Brown; frontispiece portrait of Old Jules plus photographic plates (about 20 photographs and facsimiles of people and scenes described in the text); bound in beige/tan cloth lettered in navy blue on cover and spine, blue topstain, illustrated endpapers
• A further binding point is reported — that the true first has lettering only on the front board while later 1935 printings add a portrait/illustration of Old Jules to the front board — and a documented second-printing copy with a front-cover illustration is consistent with it; promising, but single-sourced and recorded here as unconfirmed

How Little, Brown and Company marked a first edition

• 1930s: the house began stating 'Published [Month] [Year]' (e.g., 'Published September 1934') on the copyright page of a first edition, with no reference to an additional printing. On a genuine first this dated 'Published…
• Time Inc. / Time Warner corporate era (Time Inc. bought L,B 1968; Time Warner Book Group from 1989; editorial/HQ moved from Boston to New York in 2001): the number-line-must-contain-1 rule holds throughout. Imprint on th…

Full Little, Brown and Company 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 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.
4. Verify this is the US 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?

US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1935 is the true first, issued as an Atlantic Monthly Press book after Old Jules won the Atlantic Monthly non-fiction prize for 1935 — Sandoz's first published book. The census claim is correct. The first UK edition is Chapman and Hall, London, 1937, two years later: a reprint rather than a competing first, collected only as the first British appearance. A German-language issue (Atlantis Verlag, Zürich) is later still.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Blue Ribbon Books (New York) issued cheap reprints that retain the 1935 copyright date under their own imprint — the most common trap; identify by the imprint, not the date. A UK book-club issue is recorded from The Book Club, 121 Charing Cross Road, London W.C.2 (1937). Hastings House reissues (1955; the 1962 25th-anniversary printing in burnt sienna cloth with black spine lettering) and the University of Nebraska Press / Bison Books paperbacks are later reprints.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Old Jules a first edition?

A first edition of Old Jules by Mari Sandoz (Little, Brown and Company) is identified by: First printing carries "First Published October, 1935" on the copyright page with no later printing noted below it.

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). US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1935 is the true first, issued as an Atlantic Monthly Press book after Old Jules won the Atlantic Monthly non-fiction prize for 1935 — Sandoz's first published book.

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

Blue Ribbon Books (New York) issued cheap reprints that retain the 1935 copyright date under their own imprint — the most common trap; identify by the imprint, not the date. A UK book-club issue is recorded from The Book Club, 121 Charing Cross Road, London W.C.2 (1937). Hastings House reissues (1955; the 1962 25th-anniversary printing in burnt sienna cloth with black spine lettering) and the University of Nebraska Press / Bison Books paperbacks are later reprints.

I have a first edition of Old Jules — 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.