Is My Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1945; published late November 1945 (26 November 1945 per the Astrid Lindgren Company and Swedish reference sources), the winning entry in Rabén & Sjögren's 1945 children's book competition, which closed 1 August 1945
• Sedecimo (16:o), 174 pp., illustrated by the Danish artist Ingrid Vang Nyman — her cover design plus eight full-page black-and-white pen drawings — and issued in the publisher's decorated cloth-backed boards (förlagets dekorerade klotryggband)
• No number line, printing statement or issue point is documented for the Swedish first: identification rests on the 1945 Rabén & Sjögren title page, the Vang Nyman artwork and the 174-page collation
• Swedish auction and antiquarian records (Bukowskis, Stockholms Auktionsverk, Tigris Antiques) catalogue it simply as "Första upplagan 1945" without further state points, and no published Lindgren descriptive bibliography establishing states was located — so the copyright page and any upplaga (impression) statement must be compared directly against a confirmed first rather than assumed
• Treat any claimed state point for the Swedish first that is not corroborated here as unverified

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 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.
3. Verify this is the US 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 claim is confirmed. The Swedish Rabén & Sjögren edition of November 1945 is the true first; every English text is a translation, and in English the US precedes the UK by four years. New York: The Viking Press, 1950 (published 16 October 1950), translated by Florence Lamborn and newly illustrated by Louis S. Glanzman, is the first English-language edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1954, translated by Edna Hurup and illustrated by Richard Kennedy, is the first British edition — it took nine years to reach Britain. Both English editions are separately collected, but both are "first thus" rather than the first edition of the work: each carries a different translator and a different illustrator, so neither reproduces the 1945 book, and neither uses Vang Nyman's original artwork.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A 1950 Viking book-club edition exists and is the principal trap in English: its dust jacket is near-identical to the Viking trade first, so the jacket design alone will not separate them. Book-club tells for the period are a blind stamp (circle, square, dot, star or similar) on the lower rear board, thinner paper and smaller boards, an unpriced jacket flap where the trade jacket has the price present at the flap, and a "Book Club Edition" notice on the jacket flap. A ZIP code on the copyright page dates a copy after 1963 and rules out the 1950 printing outright. Viking's convention from 1937 was a "Published by The Viking Press in [year]" statement on the copyright page of firsts, but the exact wording on the 1950 Pippi was not verified against a confirmed copy and should not be quoted as a point without checking.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) a first edition?

A first edition of Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) by Astrid Lindgren (Rabén & Sjögren) is identified by: Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1945; published late November 1945 (26 November 1945 per the Astrid Lindgren Company and Swedish reference sources), the winning entry in Rabén & Sjögren's 1945 children's book competition, which closed 1 August 1945.

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). The census claim is confirmed.

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

A 1950 Viking book-club edition exists and is the principal trap in English: its dust jacket is near-identical to the Viking trade first, so the jacket design alone will not separate them. Book-club tells for the period are a blind stamp (circle, square, dot, star or similar) on the lower rear board, thinner paper and smaller boards, an unpriced jacket flap where the trade jacket has the price present at the flap, and a "Book Club Edition" notice on the jacket flap. A ZIP code on the copyright p

I have a first edition of Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) — 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.