Is My Stitches: A Memoir a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2009, hardcover in dust jacket, ISBN 978-0-393-06857-3
• A first printing states First Edition on the copyright page with a complete number line that descends to 1; later printings remove the lowest digits
• Original Norton jacket

How W. W. Norton & Company marked a first edition

• Early/statement-only era (1923 to roughly the late 1950s–early 1960s): a first printing carries the words 'First Edition' on the copyright page, and Norton simply DROPPED that line on later printings — there was no print…
• Number-line adoption (sometime in the 1960s — the guides do not pin an exact year, and it roughly coincides with the employee-ownership transition): Norton added a printing key/number row to the copyright page. From this…

Full W. W. Norton & Company 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 US 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?

US true first and the form in which the book first appeared; a National Book Award finalist. Distinguish from later printings and from the later trade paperback (ISBN 978-0-393-33896-6), which is a first-thus, not the first edition.P-006016

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition recorded. Confirm the stated First Edition and a number line descending to 1 on the copyright page.P-006017

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Stitches: A Memoir a first edition?

A first edition of Stitches: A Memoir by David Small (W. W. Norton & Company) is identified by: Norton & Company, New York, 2009, hardcover in dust jacket, ISBN 978-0-393-06857-3.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. US true first and the form in which the book first appeared; a National Book Award finalist.

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

No book-club edition recorded. Confirm the stated First Edition and a number line descending to 1 on the copyright page.

I have a first edition of Stitches: A Memoir — 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.