Is My Ramona a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1884, octavo, collating [ii], 490 pages plus four pages of publisher's advertisements, bound in the publisher's original gilt-stamped green cloth (gilt on the spine, black and gilt on the front board) with floral endpapers
• The 1884 first edition is entirely unillustrated; the earliest added illustrations were four halftone views of Rancho Camulos, promoted as 'the Home of Ramona,' bound into a Roberts Brothers appendix only in 1889, with fuller pictorial editions following from Little, Brown and Company beginning in 1900
• A copy containing any photographic or halftone illustrations is therefore a later printing, not the true 1884 first edition

How Roberts Brothers marked a first edition

• No printed first-edition statement: identify by date agreement (title-page year matching the copyright year) and the absence of any reprint notice.
• Many titles were issued in numbered 'thousands' — a 'Twentieth Thousand' or similar count on the title page indicates a later printing; first printings carry no such count.

Full Roberts Brothers first-edition guide →

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. 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 true first issue carries only the Boston: Roberts Brothers imprint dated 1884 on the title page. A later issue adds a four-line imprint for Samuel Carson & Co. of San Francisco and is dated 1885 on the title page; it should not be mistaken for the true first.P-035560

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Illustrated reprints beginning with the 1889 Roberts Brothers appendix and continuing through the 1900 Little, Brown 'Monterey' edition (paintings by Henry Sandham) and the 1913 Little, Brown 'Tourist Edition' (photographs by Adam Clark Vroman) add pictures of Rancho Camulos and other sites tied to the novel's tourist trade; none of this pictorial matter appears in the plain-text 1884 first edition.P-035561

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Ramona a first edition?

A first edition of Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson (Roberts Brothers) is identified by: Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1884, octavo, collating [ii], 490 pages plus four pages of publisher's advertisements, bound in the publisher's original gilt-stamped green cloth (gilt on the spine, black and gilt on the front board) with floral endpapers.

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 true first issue carries only the Boston: Roberts Brothers imprint dated 1884 on the title page.

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

Illustrated reprints beginning with the 1889 Roberts Brothers appendix and continuing through the 1900 Little, Brown 'Monterey' edition (paintings by Henry Sandham) and the 1913 Little, Brown 'Tourist Edition' (photographs by Adam Clark Vroman) add pictures of Rancho Camulos and other sites tied to the novel's tourist trade; none of this pictorial matter appears in the plain-text 1884 first edition.

I have a first edition of Ramona — 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.