Is My Copy of 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.P-002567

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.P-002568

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 impression' statement.

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. 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.