Is My The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovyi sad) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printed in 'Sbornik tovarishchestva "Znanie" za 1903 god' (Collection of the Znanie Association for the Year 1903), Book/volume II, St
• Petersburg, 1904, with the play occupying pages 29–105 of a 324-page small-octavo volume issued in original grey printed wrappers; the almanac also carries work by Kuprin, Skitalets, Chirikov and Iushkevich
• Note the dating trap on the wrapper and title: the collection is styled 'for the year 1903' but was published in 1904 — the official publication date was 1 June 1904, and the play had premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre on 17 January 1904
• Publication in a charitable almanac (benefiting indigent women medical students in Petersburg) was the device by which Chekhov evaded his exclusive contract with A. F. Marks, which carried a heavy per-signature penalty and restricted new work to periodicals or charitable books
• The separate book-form edition followed later in 1904: A. F. Marks, St
• Petersburg, 62 pages plus an advertisement leaf, in original printed wrappers with an art-nouveau design; it introduces textual changes and corrections and is correctly described as the first separate edition, not the first printing

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?

The census is right on both counts: the Russian original precedes all translations, and within 1904 the Znanie almanac precedes the Marks separate edition. Both are collected and the distinction must always be stated — the Znanie Book II is the first appearance in print and the earliest text; the Marks is the first edition in book form and carries a revised text. Neither is a translation and both are 1904. On the English side the census's '1908–1912' range is right but should name the two editions: the first English translation is 'The Cherry Garden', translated by Max S. Mandell, New Haven: Yale Courant, 1908 — the first American edition and first appearance in English, in publisher's black cloth lettered gilt on the upper board, with a folding facsimile letter from the actress Alla Nazimova endorsing the translation — while George Calderon's translation in 'Two Plays by Tchekhof' (London: Grant Richards, 1912; printed by the Riverside Press, Edinburgh) is the first British publication.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

None documented for the 1904 Russian printings. The volume marketplace hazard is translation-level first-thus: the modern English reprint series and commissioned versions (Dover Thrift, Penguin, Nick Hern, and the many 'a new version by' acting texts) are each a first thus of their own translation rather than any edition of the work, and are routinely listed as 'first edition'.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovyi sad) a first edition?

A first edition of The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovyi sad) by Anton Chekhov (Znanie) is identified by: First printed in 'Sbornik tovarishchestva "Znanie" za 1903 god' (Collection of the Znanie Association for the Year 1903), Book/volume II, 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. The census is right on both counts: the Russian original precedes all translations, and within 1904 the Znanie almanac precedes the Marks separate edition.

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

None documented for the 1904 Russian printings. The volume marketplace hazard is translation-level first-thus: the modern English reprint series and commissioned versions (Dover Thrift, Penguin, Nick Hern, and the many 'a new version by' acting texts) are each a first thus of their own translation rather than any edition of the work, and are routinely listed as 'first edition'.

I have a first edition of The Cherry Orchard (Vishnyovyi sad) — 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.