Is My Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua a First Edition?

The points of issue

• New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1854, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xxii, 506 pages, with six pages of publisher's advertisements; volume two collates xvii, 624 pages
• Illustrated with two folding frontispieces, a large folding map of the U.S.-Mexico boundary region, sixteen tinted lithograph plates, and 92 woodcuts
• First-edition sets are bound in dark green cloth, blind-stamped with ruled borders, gilt-lettered spines decorated with a cactus device, blue endpapers, and untrimmed edges
• Bartlett headed the U.S. Boundary Commission that surveyed the line set by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo across the New Mexico and Arizona borderlands in 1850-53, work whose disputed boundary helped prompt the Gadsden Purchase, and Jenkins's Basic Texas Books calls the narrative 'the most scholarly and scientific description of Southwest Texas of its era.'

How D. Appleton and Company marked a first edition

• Numerical identification in parentheses/brackets at the FOOT OF THE LAST PAGE of text: '(1)' = first printing, '(2)' = second, etc.
• May occasionally have used a 'First Edition' statement instead of the foot-of-last-page number.

Full D. Appleton 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. 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. 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.
4. 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.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua a first edition?

A first edition of Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua by John Russell Bartlett (D. Appleton and Company) is identified by: Appleton and Company, 1854, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xxii, 506 pages, with six pages of publisher's advertisements; volume two collates xvii, 624 pages.

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.

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

No. Book-club editions reprint the text but are not the true first; look for a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price.

I have a first edition of Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua — 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.