Is My The Brothers Karamazov a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Russian true first (book form): Brat'ya Karamazovy: roman v chetyrekh chastyakh s epilogom, printed by the Panteleev Brothers press, St
• Petersburg, title page dated 1881 but actually issued in December 1880, in two volumes (collating about 509 and 699 pages; some copies are collated 510 and 700), from a printing of 3,000 copies, roughly half of which sold within days of Christmas 1880
• The half-titles are present in a complete set and are the element most often missing
• The text had already run as a serial in Russkiy Vestnik (The Russian Messenger) from January 1879 to November 1880, so the December 1880 two-volume set is the first separate/book edition and not the first appearance in print
• Copies are normally found in near-contemporary Russian bindings — quarter calf over pebble-grain cloth with gilt Cyrillic spine lettering is typical — rather than in publisher's covers
• First edition in English: William Heinemann, London, 1912, translated by Constance Garnett, the first volume of her series "The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky." The American issue — The Macmillan Company, New York, 1912 — was made up from the British sheets with a cancel title page; that cancel is the decisive point, since a Macmillan copy is physically the Heinemann printing under a substituted title leaf

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 American 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?

CORRECTION to the census entry: the first book edition was published in St. Petersburg (Panteleev Brothers press), not Moscow, with the title page dated 1881 and issue in December 1880; it follows the Russkiy Vestnik serialisation of 1879–80, which is where the text first appeared. For English, both editions of 1912 are collected and both should be named: William Heinemann, London is the first edition in English, and The Macmillan Company, New York is the first American — but the Macmillan is not a separate printing, being the Heinemann sheets with a cancelled title page, and the London issue is by far the less often seen of the two. Later English versions — revisions of Garnett, and the Pevear and Volokhonsky and other retranslations — are "first thus" only.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1880/1881 Russian first or the 1912 Heinemann first in the sources consulted. The reprint field is otherwise dense: the Heinemann Garnett text was reprinted for decades and reset for series issues, and the New York Macmillan issue — British sheets under a cancel title — is routinely catalogued as a plain "first edition," which it is only in the sense of being the first American issue of the Heinemann printing.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Brothers Karamazov a first edition?

A first edition of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Tipografiya brat'ev Panteleevykh) is identified by: Russian true first (book form): Brat'ya Karamazovy: roman v chetyrekh chastyakh s epilogom, printed by the Panteleev Brothers press, St.

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. CORRECTION to the census entry: the first book edition was published in St.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1880/1881 Russian first or the 1912 Heinemann first in the sources consulted. The reprint field is otherwise dense: the Heinemann Garnett text was reprinted for decades and reset for series issues, and the New York Macmillan issue — British sheets under a cancel title — is routinely catalogued as a plain "first edition," which it is only in the sense of being the first American issue of the Heinemann printing.

I have a first edition of The Brothers Karamazov — 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.