Is My The Celestine Prophecy a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green wraps, 255 pages, ISBN 0-944353-00-2
• There is no Satori hardcover
• Redfield and his wife printed 3,000 copies at their own expense and mailed or personally gave away roughly 1,500 of them to small bookshops and individuals in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia
• A second Satori printing exists and is itself scarce; dealers routinely offer it as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd printing," but no source consulted publishes the copyright-page point that separates the Satori first printing from the second, so a Satori copy must be checked against its own copyright page rather than assumed to be a first printing
• The first trade edition and first hardcover is Warner Books, New York, March 1994, ISBN 0-446-51862-X
• , 246 pages, bound with a green quarter spine over cream/white paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering (dealers describe the spine covering variously as cloth or paper)

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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

The US self-published Satori Publishing edition (Hoover, Alabama, 1993) is the true first edition; the Warner Books hardcover (New York, March 1994) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover. Both are collected — the Satori for precedence, the Warner as the first properly published appearance. Redfield's own account on celestinevision.com and the Wikipedia infobox both date the Satori issue 1993, though some author bios loosely say he "self-published in 1992"; the imprint itself reads 1993, and that is the date to go by. No non-US or original-language edition precedes: Bantam/Transworld in the UK and all translations followed the Warner text and have no precedence. Warner's own later printings are numbered on the copyright page (copies stating "48th printing" are in circulation) and are first-edition-later-printing, not firsts.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the Satori self-published edition exists. Book-club copies of the Warner hardcover are not specifically documented in the sources consulted; where a club copy appears it shows the standard 1990s tells — no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed on the front flap instead), a small blindstamp or dot on the lower rear board, and thinner, lighter bulk with cheaper boards. Doubleday-style gutter codes do not apply to a 1994 Warner book. The commonest reprint trap here is not a club copy at all but a Warner later printing that a dealer has tagged "the printed pricet edition": Warner numbered its printings explicitly, so read the printing statement.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Celestine Prophecy a first edition?

A first edition of The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (Satori Publishing) is identified by: The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green wraps, 255 pages, ISBN 0-944353-00-2 (9780944353004).

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. The US self-published Satori Publishing edition (Hoover, Alabama, 1993) is the true first edition; the Warner Books hardcover (New York, March 1994) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover.

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

No book-club issue of the Satori self-published edition exists. Book-club copies of the Warner hardcover are not specifically documented in the sources consulted; where a club copy appears it shows the standard 1990s tells — no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed on the front flap instead), a small blindstamp or dot on the lower rear board, and thinner, lighter bulk with cheaper boards. Doubleday-style gutter codes do not apply to a 1994 Warner book. The commonest reprint

I have a first edition of The Celestine Prophecy — 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.