Is My The Book of Household Management a First Edition?

The points of issue

• For the one-volume book: the first issue states "18 Bouverie St" on the chromolithographic illustrated title page, and the farmyard frontispiece must be present
• Dealer records add that the letterpress title page gives the Strand address and that the errata lists page 57 on its first line
• Collates xl, 1112 pages, with the colour-printed frontispiece and illustrated title, 12 colour plates, and wood-engraved vignettes throughout the text
• The second issue corrects the illustrated title page to "248 Strand" and is generally found without the frontispiece — a copy showing "248 Strand" and lacking the farmyard frontispiece is at best the second 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. 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.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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 only — the census claim is correct; no US or foreign edition competes. The live precedence question is internal to the UK. The text appeared first in 24 monthly parts issued by S. O. Beeton from November 1859 to October 1861, in publisher's buff and rose pictorial wrappers, with the colour-printed frontispiece and title page in part 1, 12 colour plates, and advertisements in parts 1, 2 (on yellow paper, carrying the prospectus for the work), 5, 13, 14 and 19; the prospectus promises completion "in 15 or 18 parts," later extended to 24, first announced on the wrappers of part 19. The parts are the true first appearance and are rarer than the book; the one-volume book, collected on 1 October 1861, is the first edition in book form. Both are collected — say which you mean. Material had appeared earlier still in The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue in the period, but "Mrs Beeton" is among the most reprinted books in English: S. O. Beeton and successor houses kept the plates working for decades under near-identical titles, and later editions are heavily revised, re-set and expanded. Modern facsimiles of the 1861 first edition (Southover Press among others) are common and identify themselves on the copyright page. The 1861 book itself is scarce; the ubiquitous copies are later editions.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Book of Household Management a first edition?

A first edition of The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (S. O. Beeton, London) is identified by: For the one-volume book: the first issue states "18 Bouverie St" on the chromolithographic illustrated title page, and the farmyard frontispiece must be present.

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 only — the census claim is correct; no US or foreign edition competes.

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

No book-club issue in the period, but "Mrs Beeton" is among the most reprinted books in English: S. O. Beeton and successor houses kept the plates working for decades under near-identical titles, and later editions are heavily revised, re-set and expanded. Modern facsimiles of the 1861 first edition (Southover Press among others) are common and identify themselves on the copyright page. The 1861 book itself is scarce; the ubiquitous copies are later editions.

I have a first edition of The Book of Household Management — 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.