Is My The Anatomy of Melancholy a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: "The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is... By Democritus Iunior," Oxford, printed by John Lichfield and James Short for Henry Cripps, 1621 (STC 4159
• Printing and the Mind of Man 120)
• Format is the cleanest test: the 1621 is the only quarto — signatures a-e8 f4 A-3C8 3D4, closing with a final errata leaf (3D4, commonly cited as Ddd4; verso blank) that is scarce and frequently lacking — while all five later lifetime editions (1624, 1628, 1632, 1638, 1651-52), likewise Oxford and likewise for Henry Cripps, are folios
• The 1621 title page is letterpress only and the author is named solely by the pseudonym "Democritus Junior." Presence of the famous allegorical engraved title in compartments — signed by Christof (Christian) Le Blon and incorporating the author's portrait — positively excludes the first edition: that plate first appears in the third edition of 1628 and recurs in 1632, 1638, 1651-52 and 1676, with the portrait visibly ageing across the run

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 UK 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?

Oxford 1621 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed on every particular, including that 1628 is the first edition to carry the engraved title. There is no UK/US or original-language precedence issue — Burton wrote in English and the book was printed at Oxford. The "first thus" trap is unusually strong here because Burton rewrote and enlarged the book for each of the six lifetime editions (roughly 353,000 words in 1621 rising to about 516,000 by 1651-52), so the later folios are substantively different books, are separately collected, and are catalogued as firsts of their revised texts. A 1624, 1628, 1632, 1638 or 1651-52 Oxford folio is a genuine lifetime edition, and a genuinely important one, but it is not the 1621 first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club or club-format edition of the hand-press Anatomy exists. The circulating reprints are the tell: nineteenth-century multi-volume sets, Everyman and Nonesuch editions, the New York Review Books Classics reissue, the Clarendon/Oxford critical edition, and print-on-demand facsimiles struck from EEBO scans. Separately, loose engraved title pages from broken-up later folios are sold as decorative prints and are sometimes offered as a fragment of "the first edition" — the 1621 first never had one.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy a first edition?

A first edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (Printed by John Lichfield and James Short for Henry Cripps, Oxford) is identified by: First edition: "The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is.

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. Oxford 1621 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed on every particular, including that 1628 is the first edition to carry the engraved title.

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

No book-club or club-format edition of the hand-press Anatomy exists. The circulating reprints are the tell: nineteenth-century multi-volume sets, Everyman and Nonesuch editions, the New York Review Books Classics reissue, the Clarendon/Oxford critical edition, and print-on-demand facsimiles struck from EEBO scans. Separately, loose engraved title pages from broken-up later folios are sold as decorative prints and are sometimes offered as a fragment of "the first edition" — the 1621 first never

I have a first edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy — 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.