Is My On Photography a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Farrar, Straus and Giroux issue of 1977, 207 pp., bound in grey cloth with white lettering to the spine and issued in a pictorial dust jacket designed by Jacqueline Schuman
• The copyright page bears a 'Copyright (c) 1973' notice (the essays first ran in the New York Review of Books, 1973-1977) together with the FSG first-printing designation
• FSG did not use a number line in this period, so later printings are identified by an explicit 'second/third printing' statement and the first printing carries none
• Multiple independent dealers (Riverrun, Between the Covers, Type Punch Matrix, Raptis) uniformly catalogue the 1977 grey-cloth / Schuman-jacket copy as the first edition, first printing

How Farrar, Straus and Giroux marked a first edition

• ERA 1 - Farrar, Straus and Company (founding, c.1945/46-1950): No number line and no consistent 'First Edition' statement. Identify a first printing by the stylized interlocked 'FS' publisher's device on the copyright pa…
• ERA 3 - Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (1953-1963): Imprint line reads 'Farrar, Straus and Cudahy' after the 1953 Pellegrini & Cudahy merger. First printings state 'First Printing (year)' or 'First Published (year)' on the co…

Full Farrar, Straus and Giroux 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 precedence: Sontag was American and the FSG (New York) issue of 1977 is the true first. The UK edition (Allen Lane, London) followed in 1978 and is a later printing / 'first thus', not the true first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is a common trap for the true first. The title was heavily reprinted by FSG and later reset as a Picador/FSG trade paperback (ISBN 0-312-42009-9); all are identified as reprints by later printing statements or a new ISBN.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of On Photography a first edition?

A first edition of On Photography by Susan Sontag (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is identified by: The true first is the Farrar, Straus and Giroux issue of 1977, 207 pp., bound in grey cloth with white lettering to the spine and issued in a pictorial dust jacket designed by Jacqueline Schuman.

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 precedence: Sontag was American and the FSG (New York) issue of 1977 is the true first.

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

No book-club edition is a common trap for the true first. The title was heavily reprinted by FSG and later reset as a Picador/FSG trade paperback (ISBN 0-312-42009-9); all are identified as reprints by later printing statements or a new ISBN.

I have a first edition of On Photography — 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.