Is My Copy of 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. A US-only first, in wrappers.

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.P-041685

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.

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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.