Is My Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Totem Press in association with Corinth Books, New York, 1961 (recorded as June 1961); a chapbook in stapled wrappers, octavo, 47 pages, in white wrappers with cover illustration by Basil King
• Jones's first book, collecting poems of 1957-60, dedicated to his then-wife Hettie Jones
• The copyright page carries NO first-edition statement — cataloguers are explicit that the first edition is 'not explicated as such at copyright page' — so identification rests entirely on issue points, not on a printing line
• The first printing/first issue is identified by the advertisements on the last page being set in bold capitals, together with the price printed on the rear wrapper (identification only; no amount recorded here)
• A reported further distinction — the first issue being slightly larger and bulkier than later issues, and later issues giving the publisher's address on the title page as 17 West Eighth Street, New York — appears in circulating dealer copy but is corroborated by only a single source and should be treated as unconfirmed pending collation

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

US only. Totem Press / Corinth Books, New York, 1961 is the true first and the sole first edition, issued in wrappers only — no clothbound issue of the first is documented, and no British or other-language edition preceded or accompanied it. Totem Press was founded and run by Jones himself; in late 1960 it allied with Corinth Books, the small press of Eli and Ted Wilentz of the Eighth Street Bookshop, which is why the joint imprint appears. The census claim of a US-only wrappered first is confirmed.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition documented — this is a wrappered small-press chapbook. The title went through many printings under the same imprint and in the same format, with a fifth printing recorded in 1969 and a sixth in 1970, and these later printings are the standing trap: they carry the same 1961 copyright and the same Basil King cover, and are separated from the first chiefly by the bold-capitals last-page advertisement setting and the rear-wrapper price. A later Corinth Books issue also circulates under ISBN 0870910485. Because no first-edition statement exists, any copy offered as a first on the basis of the copyright page alone is unverified.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note a first edition?

A first edition of Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) (Totem Press / Corinth Books, New York) is identified by: Totem Press in association with Corinth Books, New York, 1961 (recorded as June 1961); a chapbook in stapled wrappers, octavo, 47 pages, in white wrappers with cover illustration by Basil King.

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. US only.

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

No book-club edition documented — this is a wrappered small-press chapbook. The title went through many printings under the same imprint and in the same format, with a fifth printing recorded in 1969 and a sixth in 1970, and these later printings are the standing trap: they carry the same 1961 copyright and the same Basil King cover, and are separated from the first chiefly by the bold-capitals last-page advertisement setting and the rear-wrapper price. A later Corinth Books issue also circulate

I have a first edition of Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note — 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.