Is My The Fighting Cheyennes a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1915
• The copyright page carries the Scribner seal together with the line "Published October, 1915" — this matches Scribner's documented pre-1930 house practice (seal plus month-and-year publication statement on first printings, later printings usually noted)
• Critically, the "A" code that identifies Scribner firsts dates only from 1930 and must NOT be looked for on this book; its absence is correct
• The Library of Congress deposit copy collates viii, 1 leaf, 431 pp., 23 cm, with three folding maps — a complete first must retain all three foldouts, plus the index
• Bound in publisher's cloth lettered in gilt and black on the spine; dealer descriptions of the cloth differ (brown cloth versus tan pictorial buckram), so colour/material is not a dependable printing point and should be checked against the copyright page instead
• No first-state text errors are documented in the sources consulted

How Charles Scribner's Sons marked a first edition

• Pre-1930: Scribner seal/device plus month-and-year of publication on copyright page; first printings either carry matching dates on title page and copyright page or show no later printings noted.

Full Charles Scribner's Sons 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. 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 US 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?

Census claim confirmed as to publisher, year, and the Scribner seal on the copyright page. US first; Scribner, New York, 1915. No British edition is documented in the sources consulted, so there is no UK/US precedence contest. The census's date for the common Oklahoma reprint is wrong, however — corrected in the reprint note below.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

CORRECTION to the census: the common Oklahoma reprint is 1956, not 1955 — University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, in The Civilization of the American Indian Series, bound in orange cloth with navy decoration and lettering and a yellow topstain, with added plates of photographs and full-page drawings. It is a "first thus" and is routinely mislisted as a first edition (dealers cite it as Hand G237). Any University of Oklahoma Press imprint, series statement, or ISBN rules out the 1915 Scribner first. No book-club issue documented.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Fighting Cheyennes a first edition?

A first edition of The Fighting Cheyennes by George Bird Grinnell (Charles Scribner's Sons) is identified by: First edition, first printing: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1915.

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. Census claim confirmed as to publisher, year, and the Scribner seal on the copyright page.

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

CORRECTION to the census: the common Oklahoma reprint is 1956, not 1955 — University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, in The Civilization of the American Indian Series, bound in orange cloth with navy decoration and lettering and a yellow topstain, with added plates of photographs and full-page drawings. It is a "first thus" and is routinely mislisted as a first edition (dealers cite it as Hand G237). Any University of Oklahoma Press imprint, series statement, or ISBN rules out the 1915 Scribner first

I have a first edition of The Fighting Cheyennes — 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.