Is My Sister Carrie a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1900 — Dreiser's first book
• Bound in publisher's deep red cloth (buckram), the front board lettered and ruled in black and the spine lettered in black
• The title-page date matches the copyright date
• this correspondence is the basic point
• 1,008 copies were printed in November 1900; roughly 465 sold, about 129 went out as review copies, and the remaining 423 sheets/copies were turned over to a remainder house — perhaps fewer than 250 survive
• NO dust jacket has ever been recorded for the 1900 edition, so any copy offered in a jacket warrants close scrutiny

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
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?

CENSUS CLAIM CONFIRMED, with one caution on framing. US Doubleday, Page (New York, 1900) is the true first. The first British edition is William Heinemann, London, 1901, issued as the sixth volume in Heinemann's short-lived 'The Dollar Library: A Monthly Series of American Fiction' — and it is an ABRIDGED text: Heinemann required the first 200 pages be condensed to roughly 80 to fit the series, and about 73 of the first 196 pages of the Doubleday, Page text were cut, work Dreiser did with Arthur Henry. Both editions are collected; the Heinemann is scarce (roughly 1,500-2,500 copies) but is textually a different, shortened book and is never the true first. CAUTION: the familiar 'Doubleday suppressed it' story is contested by scholars — the documented facts are that Doubleday printed 1,008 copies and declined to promote the book; state it that way rather than as active suppression.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club tells exist for an 1900 title. The reprint traps are the later reissues that brought the novel to a wider public: B. W. Dodge & Company, New York, 1907 (original maroon pictorial cloth embossed in orange and gilt), and Grosset & Dunlap, 1908, printed from the B. W. Dodge sheets and distinguished by the Grosset & Dunlap publisher's stamp at the foot of the spine and a colour frontispiece by Florence Montague. Neither is a first edition. Later Penn Press 'Pennsylvania Edition' restored-text printings are separate scholarly editions, not firsts.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Sister Carrie a first edition?

A first edition of Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York) is identified by: True first: Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1900 — Dreiser's first book.

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. CENSUS CLAIM CONFIRMED, with one caution on framing.

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

No book-club tells exist for an 1900 title. The reprint traps are the later reissues that brought the novel to a wider public: B. W. Dodge & Company, New York, 1907 (original maroon pictorial cloth embossed in orange and gilt), and Grosset & Dunlap, 1908, printed from the B. W. Dodge sheets and distinguished by the Grosset & Dunlap publisher's stamp at the foot of the spine and a colour frontispiece by Florence Montague. Neither is a first edition. Later Penn Press 'Pennsylvania Edition' restore

I have a first edition of Sister Carrie — 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.