Is My The Faerie Queene a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Quarto, London 1590, Books I–III, printed by John Wolfe for William Ponsonby (the printer is not named on the title; the woodcut device and St George and Dragon woodcut appear, with the dedication to Queen Elizabeth on the title verso)
• The recorded first-part points are mechanical and checkable: the title's date line is widely spaced, with the first digit of 1590 falling under the 'r' of 'for' in the imprint; p
• 309 is misnumbered 319; the Welsh and English words in lines 4–5 of p
• 332 are left unprinted with blank spaces reserved for them; pp
• 486–87 are numbered correctly; the '3' of p
• 403 is printed backwards

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. 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?

There is no single first edition of the whole poem. The 1590 Ponsonby quarto is the true first of Books I–III; the 1596 Ponsonby quarto (The Second Part of the Faerie Queene) is the true first of Books IV–VI, and a complete first-edition set is the two together. Note the trap inside the 1596: it reprints Books I–III, so those books in a 1596 set are a second edition, and their text is revised — Spenser cancelled the 1590 close of Book III (the Amoret and Scudamour hermaphrodite reunion) and substituted the non-ending that carries into Book IV, so the 1590 quarto is the only source for the original ending. The 1609 folio, printed by Humphrey Lownes for Matthew Lownes, is the first folio and the first posthumous/collected edition, and is the first appearance in print of the Two Cantos of Mutabilitie — a genuine first for that text, but for the poem it is a later edition and should be described as first folio / first thus, not as the first edition. No original-language or foreign precedence question arises: the poem is English throughout.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for a 1590 quarto. The realistic confusions are the 1596 quarto (second edition of Books I–III), the 1609 and 1611/1612–13 Lownes folios, the many 18th- and 19th-century editions (Hughes 1715, Todd 1805, the Victorian illustrated sets), and modern facsimiles and scholarly editions. Because the poem was reprinted continuously, the safest screen is the imprint and date: only a 1590 Ponsonby quarto with the date-under-'r' imprint and the Pp/Qq sonnet state can be the first of Books I–III, and only a 1596 Ponsonby quarto can be the first of Books IV–VI.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Faerie Queene a first edition?

A first edition of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser ([John Wolfe] for William Ponsonby, London) is identified by: Quarto, London 1590, Books I–III, printed by John Wolfe for William Ponsonby (the printer is not named on the title; the woodcut device and St George and Dragon woodcut appear, with the dedication to Queen Elizabeth on the title verso).

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. There is no single first edition of the whole poem.

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

No book-club issue exists for a 1590 quarto. The realistic confusions are the 1596 quarto (second edition of Books I–III), the 1609 and 1611/1612–13 Lownes folios, the many 18th- and 19th-century editions (Hughes 1715, Todd 1805, the Victorian illustrated sets), and modern facsimiles and scholarly editions. Because the poem was reprinted continuously, the safest screen is the imprint and date: only a 1590 Ponsonby quarto with the date-under-'r' imprint and the Pp/Qq sonnet state can be the first

I have a first edition of The Faerie Queene — 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.