Is My Shortcomings a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First book edition: Montreal, Drawn & Quarterly, 2007, hardcover with dust jacket, ISBN 1897299168, collecting Optic Nerve issues 9 through 11 with black-and-white illustration
• A first printing carries no additional-printing statement in the indicia, and the dust jacket retains its printed price
• The floral pattern printed on the jacket recurs meaningfully by the book's final chapter

How Drawn & Quarterly marked a first edition

• Distributed in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (a Macmillan imprint), so many D+Q copyright pages follow Macmillan-style number-line formatting; confirm the '1' is present in the line.

Full Drawn & Quarterly 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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

The material first appeared serially in Optic Nerve issues 9 through 11 (and was excerpted in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern number 13); the 2007 Drawn & Quarterly hardcover is the first book edition.P-000142

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition; the later Drawn & Quarterly softcover and the Faber (UK, ISBN 0571233295) issue are separate later formats, not the first hardcover.P-000143

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Shortcomings a first edition?

A first edition of Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly) is identified by: First book edition: Montreal, Drawn & Quarterly, 2007, hardcover with dust jacket, ISBN 1897299168, collecting Optic Nerve issues 9 through 11 with black-and-white illustration.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. The material first appeared serially in Optic Nerve issues 9 through 11 (and was excerpted in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern number 13); the 2007 Drawn & Quarterly hardcover is the first book edition.

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

No book-club edition; the later Drawn & Quarterly softcover and the Faber (UK, ISBN 0571233295) issue are separate later formats, not the first hardcover.

I have a first edition of Shortcomings — 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.