Is My Copy of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1896, in an edition of 3,000 copies — Little, Brown doubted the book and required Farmer to pay for the printing herself, which is why she retained the copyright
• Points: title page dated 1896 with the Little, Brown, and Company Boston imprint; collation xxx + 567 pp., followed by roughly twenty pages of publisher's advertisements and terminal blanks; original publisher's cloth
• There is NO printing statement, edition statement or number line — the 1896 title-page date and the 567-page collation are the only discriminators the sources document, and the two 1897 reprints and the annual reprints that followed carry their own later title-page dates
• Collation is the practical test: the 1904 reprinting runs to about 666 pp. plus twenty pages of ads, so any copy exceeding 567 pages of text is not the first
• Original cloth is scarce; many surviving copies have been rebound, and a rebound copy cannot be authenticated by binding

How Little, Brown and Company marked a first edition

• Pre-1930s (founded Boston 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown): there is NO first-edition statement in this era. Establish a first printing NEGATIVELY — confirm the date on the title page matches the copyright/…

Full Little, Brown 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. 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 only — the book was not published in Britain and there is no original-language question, so the 1896 Little, Brown Boston printing is the unambiguous true first. RETITLING / FIRST-THUS TRAPS: a revised edition appeared in 1906; the 8th edition (1946) was retitled Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book; the 11th edition (1965) became simply The Fannie Farmer Cookbook; Marion Cunningham revised the 12th and 13th editions (13th, 1990, reissued 1996 for the centenary, Knopf). Thirteen editions ran 1896-1990, the text growing from 567 to 874 pages — none of the retitlings is a first of this book.P-039957

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The reprint tells that matter are the facsimiles, which are common and are routinely offered as the 1896 book: the Weathervane/Crown "The Original Boston Cooking School Cook Book, 1896," the Ottenheimer issue, and the Dover 1997 "The Original 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" (ISBN 0-486-29697-5), an unabridged republication. All reproduce the 1896 title page, so the tell is the modern binding, modern paper, and the publisher's own imprint and ISBN on the verso — an 1896 title page inside a perfect-bound or modern cased volume is a facsimile.P-039958

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book a first edition?

A first edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer (Little, Brown and Company) is identified by: First edition: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1896, in an edition of 3,000 copies — Little, Brown doubted the book and required Farmer to pay for the printing herself, which is why she retained the copyright.

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 only — the book was not published in Britain and there is no original-language question, so the 1896 Little, Brown Boston printing is the unambiguous true first.

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

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The reprint tells that matter are the facsimiles, which are common and are routinely offered as the 1896 book: the Weathervane/Crown "The Original Boston Cooking School Cook Book, 1896," the Ottenheimer issue, and the Dover 1997 "The Original 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" (ISBN 0-486-29697-5), an unabridged republication.

I have a first edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook 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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.