Is My Olivia a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing is identified by the copyright-page number line running complete to 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1)
• The first-state jacket carries NO Caldecott Honor sticker and no printed Caldecott medallion: the Honor was announced in January 2001, several months after the September 2000 publication, so award identification on the jacket or an applied award sticker marks a later printing or a later jacket state
• Imprint should read Atheneum Books for Young Readers / An Anne Schwartz Book, New York
• Signed copies (Falconer signed on the title page) are frequently offered and the signature is not itself an edition point

How Atheneum Books for Young Readers / An Anne Schwartz Book marked a first edition

• Late 1980s onward: number line on copyright page with '1' present (1 indicates first printing); 'First Edition' statement also frequently used alongside

Full Atheneum Books for Young Readers / An Anne Schwartz Book 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 Atheneum, New York, 2000 is the edition collected as the true first, and is the one the Caldecott Honor attaches to. Precedence over the British issue is NOT firmly documented: a Simon & Schuster UK issue exists and at least one British dealer catalogues it as a 'UK first edition, first impression' dated 2000, while other records date the UK issue 2001. Both are collected — the US Atheneum issue as the first edition, the Simon & Schuster UK issue as the first British edition — and the UK impression is identified the same way, by a complete number string including the 1.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

First-thus trap rather than a book-club trap: Atheneum's 2004 board-book Olivia is catalogued by dealers as 'First Edition Thus; First Printing' and is routinely mistaken for the 2000 first. Later Atheneum printings are distinguished by a truncated number line and by Caldecott Honor identification on the jacket.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Olivia a first edition?

A first edition of Olivia by Ian Falconer (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / An Anne Schwartz Book) is identified by: The first printing is identified by the copyright-page number line running complete to 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1).

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 Atheneum, New York, 2000 is the edition collected as the true first, and is the one the Caldecott Honor attaches to.

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

First-thus trap rather than a book-club trap: Atheneum's 2004 board-book Olivia is catalogued by dealers as 'First Edition Thus; First Printing' and is routinely mistaken for the 2000 first. Later Atheneum printings are distinguished by a truncated number line and by Caldecott Honor identification on the jacket.

I have a first edition of Olivia — 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.