Is My Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood a First Edition?

The points of issue

• French true first: Persepolis tome 1, L'Association, Collection Ciboulette, Paris, 2000, softcover, 76 pp., ISBN 2-84414-058-6
• English first: Pantheon Books, New York, 2003, hardcover in jacket, 153 pp., translated by Mattias Ripa and Blake Ferris, ISBN 0-375-42230-7
• first-printing copies carry the Pantheon copyright-page printing line with no later-printing statement

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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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?

True first is the French L'Association edition (Persepolis tome 1, 2000), first of four French volumes issued 2000 to 2003. The 2003 Pantheon is the first English and first US edition, and it combines French volumes 1 and 2 into a single 153-page book. Collectors separate the French original-language true first from the 2003 Pantheon first English.P-020867

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. The mass-market trap is The Complete Persepolis (2007, single-volume softcover) and later movie tie-ins, all well after the 2000 French and 2003 English firsts. Verify the L'Association Ciboulette imprint for the French first, or the 2003 Pantheon copyright page for the English first.P-020868

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood a first edition?

A first edition of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (L'Association) is identified by: French true first: Persepolis tome 1, L'Association, Collection Ciboulette, Paris, 2000, softcover, 76 pp., ISBN 2-84414-058-6 (9782844140586).

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. True first is the French L'Association edition (Persepolis tome 1, 2000), first of four French volumes issued 2000 to 2003.

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

No book-club edition. The mass-market trap is The Complete Persepolis (2007, single-volume softcover) and later movie tie-ins, all well after the 2000 French and 2003 English firsts. Verify the L'Association Ciboulette imprint for the French first, or the 2003 Pantheon copyright page for the English first.

I have a first edition of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood — 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.