Is My The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: 'First Edition' is stated on the copyright page — that statement is the identification, and its absence marks a later Harcourt printing
• Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1933; octavo, approximately 310 pp
• Bound in publisher's blue to blue-grey cloth stamped in silver, with 'A rose is a rose is a rose is' stamped to form a small circle on the front board
• Illustrated with a frontispiece after a photograph by Man Ray (Stein at her desk, Toklas in the doorway) plus 14 full-page plates and one facsimile leaf
• Jacket should be priced at the flap and is scarce; dealers consistently note it is usually found heavily worn

How Harcourt, Brace and Company marked a first edition

• 1919-1921 (Harcourt, Brace & Howe): number '1' on copyright page = first printing, '2' = second, etc.
• 1921-1931: no statement on first printings; the first-edition notice (when later adopted) was simply absent, so rely on no later-printing notice.

Full Harcourt, Brace and 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. 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 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 Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1933 is the accepted true first and the collected edition. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, published the first English edition the same year; the exact Bodley Head month could not be established from the sources consulted, so the census phrase 'narrowly precedes' is softened here — the American edition is the collected first, but the interval is not documented in these sources. The Atlantic Monthly printed roughly sixty per cent of the text in four installments in 1933, preceding both in print, but as a serial appearance rather than a book edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Harcourt printings drop the 'First Edition' statement from the copyright page while otherwise resembling the first — check the statement before anything else. Subsequent reprint editions and modern trade reissues are 'first thus' traps. No specific book-club issue of the 1933 Harcourt printing is documented in the sources consulted.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas a first edition?

A first edition of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein (Harcourt, Brace and Company) is identified by: First edition, first printing: 'First Edition' is stated on the copyright page — that statement is the identification, and its absence marks a later Harcourt printing.

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. US Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1933 is the accepted true first and the collected edition.

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

Later Harcourt printings drop the 'First Edition' statement from the copyright page while otherwise resembling the first — check the statement before anything else. Subsequent reprint editions and modern trade reissues are 'first thus' traps. No specific book-club issue of the 1933 Harcourt printing is documented in the sources consulted.

I have a first edition of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas — 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.