Is My The Devil's Dictionary a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first of the text is The Cynic's Word Book: copyright filed 30 August 1906, published October 1906 by Doubleday, Page & Company, New York
• BAL 1124; octavo, collating [vi], 233, [1] pp
• (some cataloguers give vi, 234)
• BAL records the sheets in two states with NO priority established, so neither is 'the' first state: BAL State A has no printer's imprint on the copyright page, is issued without a frontispiece, and has the leaves of the spine ornament stemming downward
• The binding is publisher's decorated cloth — variously described by cataloguers as dark olive or brown — lettered in red with red and black decoration and top edges gilt
• Note the scale: Doubleday printed and bound 1,341 copies (147 to the author and reviewers, 1,070 sold, the balance remaindered), and the text runs only A through L, with 521 definitions

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

Both editions named in the census claim are collected and the claim is correct. (1) The Cynic's Word Book, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1906 — the first book form of the material, but only A-L; Bierce wanted the Devil's Dictionary title and the publisher refused it. (2) The Devil's Dictionary, The Neale Publishing Company, New York and Washington, 1911, being volume VII of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce — the first appearance under the famous title and the first complete alphabet, with 1,013 definitions, sold principally as twelve-volume sets (Neale advertised 250 numbered full-leather sets with volume I signed by Bierce, a few half-morocco sets, and the bulk in cloth; surviving royalty statements show far smaller actual sales). PRECEDENCE TRAP: the London edition from Arthur F. Bird carries a title page dated 1906 but was published in June 1907 from the American plates — a Bird copy is not the true first despite the 1906 date.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The first widely available trade printing under the Devil's Dictionary title is Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1925 (reissued 1926, 1935, 1944). It is the first reprint after Neale and is frequently mis-described as a first edition — it is not; it postdates the 1911 Neale Collected Works volume VII by fourteen years. Likewise the 1907 Arthur F. Bird (London) issue and all Cynic's Word Book copies with a printer's imprint on the copyright page fall outside BAL State A. Modern 'Unabridged Devil's Dictionary' editions (from the Joshi/Schultz scholarly recovery) are new editorial texts, not reprints of either first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Devil's Dictionary a first edition?

A first edition of The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York) is identified by: The true first of the text is The Cynic's Word Book: copyright filed 30 August 1906, published October 1906 by Doubleday, Page & Company, New York; BAL 1124; octavo, collating [vi], 233, [1] pp.

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. Both editions named in the census claim are collected and the claim is correct.

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

The first widely available trade printing under the Devil's Dictionary title is Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1925 (reissued 1926, 1935, 1944). It is the first reprint after Neale and is frequently mis-described as a first edition — it is not; it postdates the 1911 Neale Collected Works volume VII by fourteen years. Likewise the 1907 Arthur F. Bird (London) issue and all Cynic's Word Book copies with a printer's imprint on the copyright page fall outside BAL State A. Modern 'Unabridged Devil'

I have a first edition of The Devil's Dictionary — 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.