Is My Rip Van Winkle (text by Washington Irving) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• VERIFIED. The illustrated 1905 first edition exists in two simultaneous issues
• The ORDINARY TRADE issue: quarto, 51 mounted colour plates (a colour frontispiece facing the title plus 50 plates, each tipped onto heavy brown paper with a captioned/lettered tissue guard), accompanied by numerous black-and-white illustrations in the text; bound in publisher's green pictorial cloth, front board and spine stamped/lettered in gilt (sleeping Rip vignette to front), green endpapers, all edges stained green
• The signed DELUXE LIMITED issue: limited to 250 copies, each signed by Rackham on the limitation leaf and numbered, with the same 51 mounted colour plates, bound in full pictorial vellum gilt (gilt title/image to front cover, gilt spine) with silk/ribbon ties, top edge gilt and the rest uncut
• This was the first book wholly illustrated by Rackham to be issued in a signed limited edition and the title that established him as the pre-eminent Edwardian colour gift-book illustrator; the 250-copy limitation is small and desirable (one of his earliest and smaller limitations), though not the very smallest of his career
• References: Riall 69
• Latimore & Haskell 26

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?

Both issues are the 1905 first edition; the signed/numbered vellum limited issue (250 copies, London: Heinemann, 1905) is the senior and most-prized form among collectors, scarcer than the trade green-cloth issue and far scarcer than the later 1,000-copy Midsummer Night's Dream limited (1908). The London Heinemann issue is conventionally cited as the primary first, with a simultaneous US trade issue under Doubleday, Page & Co., New York (1905); on some copies Doubleday is the first-named imprint on the title page, so transatlantic precedence between the two national trade issues is not firmly documented — treat London/Heinemann as first by convention and hedge accordingly.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Heinemann reprinted this title repeatedly after 1905; later printings commonly REDUCE the plate count (the full first-issue complement is the frontispiece plus 50 = 51 mounted colour plates) and may substitute cheaper binding, so a genuine first must show all 51 mounted plates with their tissue guards, the correct issue binding (green pictorial cloth with all edges green for the trade issue; full vellum gilt for the limited), and an 1905 title/verso with no later date or 'reprinted/new impression' statement. The signed limited must carry the numbered limitation leaf (within 250) and Rackham's autograph. Later and cheaper Heinemann/US reprints and a smaller-format edition circulate; foxing to the plate mounts and tissue guards is near-universal and is NOT in itself a later-printing tell.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Rip Van Winkle (text by Washington Irving) a first edition?

A first edition of Rip Van Winkle (text by Washington Irving) by Arthur Rackham (London: William Heinemann) is identified by: The illustrated 1905 first edition exists in two simultaneous issues.

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. Both issues are the 1905 first edition; the signed/numbered vellum limited issue (250 copies, London: Heinemann, 1905) is the senior and most-prized form among collectors, scarcer than the trade green-cloth issue and far scarcer than the later 1,000-copy Midsummer Night's Dream limited (1908).

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

Heinemann reprinted this title repeatedly after 1905; later printings commonly REDUCE the plate count (the full first-issue complement is the frontispiece plus 50 = 51 mounted colour plates) and may substitute cheaper binding, so a genuine first must show all 51 mounted plates with their tissue guards, the correct issue binding (green pictorial cloth with all edges green for the trade issue; full vellum gilt for the limited), and an 1905 title/verso with no later date or 'reprinted/new impressio

I have a first edition of Rip Van Winkle (text by Washington Irving) — 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.