Is My Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in cloth-backed boards with the Harper & Row 'FIRST EDITION' statement and the publisher number line on the copyright page
• Note the Harper & Row-era caution: the house often failed to remove the 'FIRST EDITION' slug on later printings, so the first printing must be confirmed by an intact number line and not by the words alone
• The first-issue dust jacket carries the original printed price, which is commonly found price-clipped and should ideally be present

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. 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.
4. Verify this is the US 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?

US Harper & Row (New York) is the true first, 1982.P-001800

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Confirm the FIRST EDITION statement together with the intact number line, since Harper & Row retained the statement on later printings; book-club issues lack the jacket price.P-001801

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters a first edition?

A first edition of Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters by Annie Dillard (Harper & Row) is identified by: First edition in cloth-backed boards with the Harper & Row 'FIRST EDITION' statement and the publisher number line on the copyright page.

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). US Harper & Row (New York) is the true first, 1982.

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

Confirm the FIRST EDITION statement together with the intact number line, since Harper & Row retained the statement on later printings; book-club issues lack the jacket price.

I have a first edition of Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters — 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.