Is My Peter and Wendy a First Edition?

The points of issue

• UK Hodder & Stoughton first: the title-page verso is undated and carries no notice of any subsequent printing — any statement of a later impression rules out the first
• Collation is vii, 267 pp. with 13 plates including the frontispiece and title, illustrated by F. D. Bedford
• Binding is publisher's olive-green cloth elaborately blocked in gilt to spine and front cover, the front design showing Peter, two mermaids and the crocodile; octavo, roughly 21 x 15 x 4 cm
• US Scribner's first: the copyright page reads "Published October, 1911" and carries the Scribner seal — both must be present
• A blue-cloth Scribner variant is recorded with a colour tipped-in frontispiece, as against the green cloth in which the frontispiece is tinted only; the sources consulted do not establish priority between these two Scribner bindings, so neither is asserted here as first state
• Jackets on either edition are seldom encountered; a first-issue jacket is priced at the flap

How Hodder & Stoughton marked a first edition

• Pre-1940s: no consistent practice — first/later printing identification is unreliable and requires jacket/ad/binding/bibliographic analysis

Full Hodder & Stoughton 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. Verify this is the UK 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 census is correct: the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition (London, 1911) is the accepted true first, published 18 October 1911, with Charles Scribner's Sons (New York) following on 21 October 1911 — three days later, hence "nearly simultaneous" but not co-equal. Burnside Rare Books (ABAA) catalogues the Hodder as "the true first edition of the novel colloquially known as Peter Pan". Both editions are illustrated by F. D. Bedford and both are collected, the British generally the more sought. The census is also correct that the play text is a separate and much later book: it was not published until 1928, as Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up — a distinct work, not an edition of this novel.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No 1911 book-club issue is documented. The dominant traps are the many later Hodder & Stoughton reprints and decorative-cloth reissues — a 1930 Hodder "New Edition" is one commonly offered — which retain Bedford's plates and similar gilt-blocked cloth but state a later printing or a later date on the title-page verso. Reduced-format and abridged Peter Pan retellings, and editions illustrated by other hands, are separate works and not printings of Peter and Wendy at all.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Peter and Wendy a first edition?

A first edition of Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie (Hodder & Stoughton) is identified by: UK Hodder & Stoughton first: the title-page verso is undated and carries no notice of any subsequent printing — any statement of a later impression rules out the first.

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 census is correct: the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition (London, 1911) is the accepted true first, published 18 October 1911, with Charles Scribner's Sons (New York) following on 21 October 1911 — three days later, hence "nearly simultaneous" but not co-equal.

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

No 1911 book-club issue is documented. The dominant traps are the many later Hodder & Stoughton reprints and decorative-cloth reissues — a 1930 Hodder "New Edition" is one commonly offered — which retain Bedford's plates and similar gilt-blocked cloth but state a later printing or a later date on the title-page verso. Reduced-format and abridged Peter Pan retellings, and editions illustrated by other hands, are separate works and not printings of Peter and Wendy at all.

I have a first edition of Peter and Wendy — 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.