Is My The Compass Rose a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first is the Underwood-Miller (Pendragon Press) edition: a clothbound issue limited to 550 numbered copies signed by Le Guin, with a bound-in limitation page and Thomas Canty artwork, issued mid-1982 (ISBN 0-934438-60-9)
• The Harper & Row trade hardcover, with a number line ending in 1 on the copyright page in a priced jacket, followed in July 1982
• A collection of twenty short stories

How Underwood-Miller marked a first edition

• Editions identified by the limitation/colophon statement: many titles issued in trade plus signed/numbered and sometimes lettered states — the limitation leaf gives the run
• First printings indicated by absence of later-printing notation; the publisher's name 'Underwood-Miller' (joint era) vs. later solo imprints helps date the state

Full Underwood-Miller first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 Underwood-Miller signed/numbered limited edition preceded the Harper & Row trade edition by roughly a month, so the limited issue is the true first; the Harper & Row trade is the first trade edition, not the overall first.P-031977

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Book club editions of the trade text lack the number line and the printed jacket price.P-031978

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Compass Rose a first edition?

A first edition of The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin (Underwood-Miller) is identified by: True first is the Underwood-Miller (Pendragon Press) edition: a clothbound issue limited to 550 numbered copies signed by Le Guin, with a bound-in limitation page and Thomas Canty artwork, issued mid-1982 (ISBN 0-934438-60-9).

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). The Underwood-Miller signed/numbered limited edition preceded the Harper & Row trade edition by roughly a month, so the limited issue is the true first; the Harper & Row trade is the first trade edition, not the overall first.

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

Book club editions of the trade text lack the number line and the printed jacket price.

I have a first edition of The Compass Rose — 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.