Is My Still Alice a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6
• , collated at roughly 292 pages
• The month of issue is recorded inconsistently — Open Library gives 13 July 2007, retail listings 1 January 2007 — so the year, not the month, is the reliable datum
• The decisive structural fact is that iUniverse is a print-on-demand imprint: copies are manufactured to order, there are no distinguishable printings, and a copy produced years later is typographically identical to an early one
• Identification therefore rests on the iUniverse imprint and the 0-595-44009-6 ISBN on the title and copyright pages, not on any printing statement
• Dealer descriptions report no edition or printing statement on the iUniverse copyright page, which is consistent with iUniverse practice but was not confirmable against a physical-copy collation in the sources consulted — treat the absence as expected rather than as a proof point

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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?

The US self-published iUniverse edition (2007) is the true first edition; the Simon & Schuster hardcover (New York, 6 January 2009) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover. Both are collected — the iUniverse for precedence, the 2009 hardcover as the first properly published appearance. The census claim of "Pocket/Simon & Schuster 2009" needs one correction of nuance: the 2009 imprint is recorded as Pocket Books by Open Library and Wikipedia and as Gallery Books by several retailers and dealers. Gallery Books was the successor that absorbed Pocket's trade line in 2009, so both names attach to the same book under one ISBN — an imprint-naming artifact, not two different editions. The cleanest independent corroboration of the precedence is cataloguing rather than dealer copy: two separate library MARC records (the 2009 Wheeler large-print issue and the 2010 Pocket paperback) both carry the note "Originally published: New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2007." No British or foreign-language edition precedes the US.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The print-on-demand original has no book-club issue and no reprint state to distinguish — later iUniverse copies are indistinguishable from early ones. That is the central trap on this title: an iUniverse copy proves the edition but cannot prove an early strike, and no one can honestly claim otherwise. For the 2009 trade hardcover, the tells are the ordinary ones — a number line lacking the 1 marks a later printing — and the 2015 film-tie-in and subsequent Gallery/Pocket paperback reissues are "first thus" only.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Still Alice a first edition?

A first edition of Still Alice by Lisa Genova (iUniverse) is identified by: The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6 (9780595440092), collated at roughly 292 pages.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The US self-published iUniverse edition (2007) is the true first edition; the Simon & Schuster hardcover (New York, 6 January 2009) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover.

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

The print-on-demand original has no book-club issue and no reprint state to distinguish — later iUniverse copies are indistinguishable from early ones. That is the central trap on this title: an iUniverse copy proves the edition but cannot prove an early strike, and no one can honestly claim otherwise. For the 2009 trade hardcover, the tells are the ordinary ones — a number line lacking the 1 marks a later printing — and the 2015 film-tie-in and subsequent Gallery/Pocket paperback reissues are "

I have a first edition of Still Alice — 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.