Is My The Death-Ray a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing hardcover, Drawn & Quarterly, 2011 (ISBN 9781770460515)
• Oversized, roughly 9 by 12 inches, issued in glossy illustrated boards without a dust jacket as published

How Drawn & Quarterly marked a first edition

• Distributed in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (a Macmillan imprint), so many D+Q copyright pages follow Macmillan-style number-line formatting; confirm the '1' is present in the line.

Full Drawn & Quarterly 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 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 world 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 material first appeared in Eightball #23 (2004), an oversized single issue, which is the true first publication. The 2011 D&Q hardcover is the first standalone book edition (first-thus).

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Drawn & Quarterly printings and the softcover edition are reprints; no stated-first line, so the first printing is identified by the absence of later-printing indicators.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Death-Ray a first edition?

A first edition of The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly) is identified by: First edition, first printing hardcover, Drawn & Quarterly, 2011 (ISBN 9781770460515).

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 material first appeared in Eightball #23 (2004), an oversized single issue, which is the true first publication.

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

Later Drawn & Quarterly printings and the softcover edition are reprints; no stated-first line, so the first printing is identified by the absence of later-printing indicators.

I have a first edition of The Death-Ray — what should I do?

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 lost. To sell, see the author’s collecting guide. Either way, nothing collectible ends up in a landfill.

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.