Is My Our Lady of the Flowers a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs with the imprint 'Monte-Carlo, aux dépens d'un amateur', December 1943, printed clandestinely and issued without a date on the title page (catalogued s.d.)
• The limitation is 350 numbered copies entirely reserved for subscribers, described in auction cataloguing as the sole announced edition; the format is in-4
• The Monte-Carlo imprint is itself a fiction — the book was produced in Paris, with Paul Morihien (Cocteau's secretary) and Robert Denoël behind it — so the imprint line is the identification point, not a place of printing to be checked
• Absence of a subscriber's number on the limitation leaf, or any dated title page, argues against the 1943 issue
• Most surviving copies were issued in wrappers and have since been bound to order, so a later fine binding does not by itself disqualify a copy

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 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 French clandestine original of 1943 is the true first, and the census is correct on this point. The first edition IN ENGLISH is Bernard Frechtman's translation published by Paul Morihien, Paris, 30 April 1949 — a subscribers' edition of 500 copies in publisher's cloth with Jean Cocteau's portrait of Genet on the front board; this, not Grove, is the first English. The census's 'first trade English Grove, New York 1963' requires correction: the Olympia Press (Paris) mass-market issue of 1957 in the Traveller's Companion Series precedes Grove, so Grove 1963 is properly the first AMERICAN edition rather than the first trade edition in English. The 1943 French, the Morihien 1949 English, and the Grove 1963 American are each separately collected.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for any of these. The reprint sequence is the real trap: L'Arbalète (Lyon) 1948 is the first publicly issued French text, and later L'Arbalète printings carry a number of smaller revisions; the Gallimard 1951 Œuvres complètes text was revised by Genet and omits some of the more explicit passages, so a Gallimard or later Grove text is not the 1943 text. Any copy offered as a first must show the Monte-Carlo / 'aux dépens d'un amateur' imprint and a subscriber's number on the limitation leaf.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Our Lady of the Flowers a first edition?

A first edition of Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet ('Aux dépens d'un amateur', Monte-Carlo) is identified by: The true first is Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs with the imprint 'Monte-Carlo, aux dépens d'un amateur', December 1943, printed clandestinely and issued without a date on the title page (catalogued s.d.).

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 French clandestine original of 1943 is the true first, and the census is correct on this point.

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

No book-club issue is documented for any of these. The reprint sequence is the real trap: L'Arbalète (Lyon) 1948 is the first publicly issued French text, and later L'Arbalète printings carry a number of smaller revisions; the Gallimard 1951 Œuvres complètes text was revised by Genet and omits some of the more explicit passages, so a Gallimard or later Grove text is not the 1943 text. Any copy offered as a first must show the Monte-Carlo / 'aux dépens d'un amateur' imprint and a subscriber's num

I have a first edition of Our Lady of the Flowers — 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.