Is My The Blue Fairy Book a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1889
• The 1889 first edition appears in two issues
• The trade issue (a comparatively small run of about 5,000 copies, against as many as 15,000 for later volumes in the series) is bound in original blue cloth pictorially blocked in gilt — a witch riding a broomstick on the front board, an ogre on the spine — with all edges gilt
• 390pp, with a frontispiece and seven further plates (eight in all) plus frequent in-text illustrations by H. J. Ford and G. P. Jacomb-Hood
• Dealer description records 16pp of publisher's advertisements dated August 1889 bound in at the rear as a first-issue point; that ad-date point traces to a single ABAA dealer's cataloguing rather than to two independent authorities, so collate it but do not treat it as decisive on its own
• The large-paper deluxe issue is limited to 113 numbered copies, small 4to, edges uncut, with a paper label to the spine and collating [vi], xxi, [i], 390pp; its decisive and well-corroborated point is textual — the deluxe issue alone carries a Lang preface on the origins of the tales that is not printed in the trade issue

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?

UK Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1889 is the true first, and the census claim is correct. The contemporaneous Longmans New York imprint (11 East 16th St, which appears on the large-paper title) is the publisher's own American branch issue of the same London printing rather than a separate American edition, so there is no genuine UK-vs-US precedence contest here. Both the trade issue and the large-paper issue are 1889 firsts; the large paper is the deluxe issue and is textually the fuller of the two by virtue of the extra preface. This is the first of the twelve 'coloured' Fairy Books and the scarcest of the run.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Longmans reprinted the title repeatedly into the twentieth century, retaining the same setting; later printings carry advertisement catalogues of later date rather than the August 1889 catalogue, and commonly abandon the all-gilt edges and the full pictorial gilt cloth. Principal trap is 'first thus': the many later illustrated reissues, and modern Dover and Folio Society reprints, are routinely offered as 'first editions' of a given format and are not the 1889 first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Blue Fairy Book a first edition?

A first edition of The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (ed.) (Longmans, Green and Co.) is identified by: Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1889.

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. UK Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1889 is the true first, and the census claim is correct.

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

Longmans reprinted the title repeatedly into the twentieth century, retaining the same setting; later printings carry advertisement catalogues of later date rather than the August 1889 catalogue, and commonly abandon the all-gilt edges and the full pictorial gilt cloth. Principal trap is 'first thus': the many later illustrated reissues, and modern Dover and Folio Society reprints, are routinely offered as 'first editions' of a given format and are not the 1889 first.

I have a first edition of The Blue Fairy Book — 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.