Is My Tamerlane and Other Poems a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: a thin pamphlet of 40 pages (collation [i-iv], [5]-40), roughly 6.75 x 4.5 in., in plain printed paper wrappers variously described as tan, drab, or 'tea-colour,' attributed only to 'A Bostonian' (Poe's name nowhere present); imprint of Calvin F. S. Thomas, Boston, 1827
• Poe, then eighteen, paid to have it printed by Thomas, himself an eighteen-year-old jobbing printer
• The text is the early, unrevised version of 'Tamerlane.' Probably about 50 copies were printed (estimates vary widely, from under 40 to a couple hundred); only about a dozen are known to survive, several of them imperfect

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 American 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?

The 1827 Thomas (Boston) pamphlet is the true first and one of the rarest landmarks in American literature -- for a donor's purposes it is effectively unobtainable, the few copies that reach the market doing so only at major auction. It must not be confused with Poe's 1829 Baltimore book 'Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems' (Hatch & Dunning), a separate, later collection that reprints a revised 'Tamerlane.'P-036629

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Facsimiles and reprints exist from the 19th century onward -- a typeset facsimile by George Redway (London, 1884), photographic facsimiles (e.g., 1923), the Jacob Schwartz / Ulysses Bookshop facsimile (1931), and the Facsimile Text Society (Columbia University Press, 1941), among others. Any copy not matching the 1827 collation, wrappers, and paper is a facsimile or later reprint, not the 1827 first.P-036630

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems a first edition?

A first edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe ('A Bostonian') (Calvin F. S. Thomas) is identified by: First edition: a thin pamphlet of 40 pages (collation [i-iv], [5]-40), roughly 6.75 x 4.5 in., in plain printed paper wrappers variously described as tan, drab, or 'tea-colour,' attributed only to 'A Bostonian' (Poe's name nowhere present); imprint of Calvin F.

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. The 1827 Thomas (Boston) pamphlet is the true first and one of the rarest landmarks in American literature -- for a donor's purposes it is effectively unobtainable, the few copies that reach the market doing so only at major auction.

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

Facsimiles and reprints exist from the 19th century onward -- a typeset facsimile by George Redway (London, 1884), photographic facsimiles (e.g., 1923), the Jacob Schwartz / Ulysses Bookshop facsimile (1931), and the Facsimile Text Society (Columbia University Press, 1941), among others. Any copy not matching the 1827 collation, wrappers, and paper is a facsimile or later reprint, not the 1827 first.

I have a first edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems — 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.