Is My The Brave Bulls a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The copyright page is the point: Little, Brown first printings from 1940 onward carry a stated "FIRST EDITION" or "First Printing," and later printings of this title add an explicit reprinting statement — the book sold hard and was reprinted repeatedly within April 1949 and again in May, with dealer-catalogued copies running to a ninth reprinting in the first year alone
• Any copyright page bearing a reprinting or later-printing line rules the copy out; number lines are irrelevant here, since Little, Brown did not adopt them until the late 1970s, so "no number line" is not an affirmative first-printing point despite being repeated in trade listings
• The first printing is bound in the publisher's original pictorial pink cloth stamped in black and silver, with pictorial endpapers depicting the bullfighter's stance, a full-colour illustrated title page, and the author's black-and-white illustrations throughout; collation is 270 pages
• The jacket should be present and priced at the flap
• Some copies carry a tipped-in sheet signed by Lea, in an unrecorded quantity — a signature state, not a printing point

How Little, Brown and Company marked a first edition

• From 1940 onward: Little, Brown adopted an explicit statement, printing 'First Edition' OR 'First Printing' on the copyright page of a first printing. Presence of that phrase, with no overriding later-printing line, deno…
• Time Inc. / Time Warner corporate era (Time Inc. bought L,B 1968; Time Warner Book Group from 1989; editorial/HQ moved from Boston to New York in 2001): the number-line-must-contain-1 rule holds throughout. Imprint on th…

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 Little, Brown and Company (Boston), 1949 is the true first, confirmed by the Tom Lea Institute's own bibliography and by ABAA-level catalogue descriptions; the novel had been serialised in the Atlantic Monthly beforehand, which is a prior appearance in periodical form, not a competing edition. The first UK edition is William Heinemann (London), 1950 — a year later, so it holds no precedence, though it is collected. A Horwitz (Sydney) 1960 Australian edition and the Pocket Books (1951) and Penguin (1953) paperbacks are all reprints/first-thus traps. This was Lea's first book and it won the Texas Institute of Letters' Carr P. Collins Award.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the Little, Brown edition is documented in the sources consulted. The practical reprint trap on this title is not a club copy but the flood of same-year Little, Brown reprintings in the identical pink pictorial cloth — they are distinguished only by the reprinting statement on the copyright page, so the binding cannot be used to tell a first printing from a 1949 reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Brave Bulls a first edition?

A first edition of The Brave Bulls by Tom Lea (Little, Brown and Company) is identified by: The copyright page is the point: Little, Brown first printings from 1940 onward carry a stated "FIRST EDITION" or "First Printing," and later printings of this title add an explicit reprinting statement — the book sold hard and was reprinted repeatedly within April 1949 and again in May, with dealer-catalogued copies running to a ninth reprinting in the first year alone.

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 Little, Brown and Company (Boston), 1949 is the true first, confirmed by the Tom Lea Institute's own bibliography and by ABAA-level catalogue descriptions; the novel had been serialised in the Atlantic Monthly beforehand, which is a prior appearance in periodical form, not a competing edition.

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

No book-club issue of the Little, Brown edition is documented in the sources consulted. The practical reprint trap on this title is not a club copy but the flood of same-year Little, Brown reprintings in the identical pink pictorial cloth — they are distinguished only by the reprinting statement on the copyright page, so the binding cannot be used to tell a first printing from a 1949 reprint.

I have a first edition of The Brave Bulls — 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.