Is My Religio Medici a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Two unauthorized editions appeared in 1642, both from Andrew Crooke in London, both published anonymously and without Browne's permission from a manuscript that reached Crooke, and both carrying the engraved title-page by William Marshall (active 1617-49): a figure tumbling headlong from a rock into the sea, caught by a hand issuing from the clouds, with the motto "a caelo salus" / "e coelo salus" and the words "Religio Medici" engraved on the plate
• The two are told apart by bulk: one collates 80 leaves, the other 96
• Their priority is genuinely disputed and there is no settled answer — Wilkin, Greenhill and Williams took the 96-leaf edition as the earlier
• Keynes (Bibliography of Sir Thomas Browne, 1924) reversed the order and made the 80-leaf edition first, on the evidence that Marshall's plate is definitely more worn in the 96-leaf copies
• Elizabeth Cook
• reversed it again on textual grounds, restoring the 96-leaf edition to first place

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. 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 unauthorized Crooke 1642 (London) is the first appearance in print and precedes the authorized text — the census claim is correct, though incomplete, since there are two 1642 editions whose order is contested (above). Browne's authorized edition followed in 1643, again from Crooke, titled "Religio Medici. A true and full coppy of that which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously printed before under the name of Religio Medici"; it adds several leaves of prefatory matter and several hundred minor textual changes, and reuses or copies Marshall's plate. That Browne retained Crooke as publisher of the authorized version suggests tacit acceptance of the piracy. The 1643 is the first authorized edition, not a "first thus" reprint, and a serious collection holds the 1642 and 1643 as a pair. Sir Kenelm Digby's Observations upon Religio Medici (1643), which prompted Browne's authorized text, is a separate work commonly collected alongside. The work was reprinted about eight times in Browne's lifetime and translated into Latin, French, German, Dutch and Italian.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club dimension applies to a 17th-century book; the trap here is the facsimile and the modern edition. "Religio medici, being a facsimile of the first edition published in 1642, with an introduction by W. A. Greenhill" circulates widely and reproduces the 1642 setting, and is regularly mistaken for the original. Greenhill's Golden Treasury edition (Macmillan) and Keynes's 20th-century Works are modern editions. Any copy with a printed modern-English introduction, machine-made paper, or a publisher's cloth binding is not a 1642 Crooke.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Religio Medici a first edition?

A first edition of Religio Medici by Sir Thomas Browne (Andrew Crooke, London) is identified by: Two unauthorized editions appeared in 1642, both from Andrew Crooke in London, both published anonymously and without Browne's permission from a manuscript that reached Crooke, and both carrying the engraved title-page by William Marshall (active 1617-49): a figure tumbling headlong from a rock into the sea, caught by a hand issuing from the clouds, with the motto "a caelo salus" / "e coelo salus" and the words "Religio Medici" engraved on the plate.

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 unauthorized Crooke 1642 (London) is the first appearance in print and precedes the authorized text — the census claim is correct, though incomplete, since there are two 1642 editions whose order is contested (above).

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

No book-club dimension applies to a 17th-century book; the trap here is the facsimile and the modern edition. "Religio medici, being a facsimile of the first edition published in 1642, with an introduction by W. A. Greenhill" circulates widely and reproduces the 1642 setting, and is regularly mistaken for the original. Greenhill's Golden Treasury edition (Macmillan) and Keynes's 20th-century Works are modern editions. Any copy with a printed modern-English introduction, machine-made paper, or a

I have a first edition of Religio Medici — 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.