Is My The Garden of Eden a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing has "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page with no printing statement beneath it — that absence is the decisive test, because Scribner carried the "First Edition" slug forward onto later printings and simply added a printing line (a copy of the fourth printing, for example, states "First Edition" and "Fourth Printing July, 1986" together)
• Bound in quarter cream cloth over brown paper-covered boards, lettered in black on the spine
• 8vo, 247 pp.; ISBN 0-684-18693-4
• The jacket reproduces Juan Gris's painting "Woman with a Basket"
• and is priced at the flap
• Any copy whose copyright page shows a printing statement below the slug is not the first printing, regardless of the slug

How Charles Scribner's Sons, New York marked a first edition

• After 1973 the letter code was abandoned in favor of a descending number line ending in 1.

Full Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 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?

US Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1986 is the true first of this text in any form: the novel is posthumous, edited down from Hemingway's long unfinished manuscript, and no earlier edition exists in any language, so there is no original-language or prior-publication precedence question. The first UK edition followed from Hamish Hamilton (London) in 1987 (ISBN 0-241-11998-7) and does not compete for precedence. First-thus caution: because the published text is an editorial abridgement of a much longer manuscript, any later restored or scholarly presentation of the fuller text is a first thus of that text, not a first edition of the novel. The census claim is confirmed as stated.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Documented and common: the Book-of-the-Month Club main selection of this title was supplied from Scribner's fourth printing of July 1986 and carries the "First Edition" slug together with the added line "Fourth Printing July, 1986". This is the single most frequent misidentification for the book — buyers see the slug and stop reading. Later Scribner trade printings behave the same way, retaining the slug and adding a printing line.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Garden of Eden a first edition?

A first edition of The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York) is identified by: The first printing has "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page with no printing statement beneath it — that absence is the decisive test, because Scribner carried the "First Edition" slug forward onto later printings and simply added a printing line (a copy of the fourth printing, for example, states "First Edition" and "Fourth Printing July, 1986" together).

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. US Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1986 is the true first of this text in any form: the novel is posthumous, edited down from Hemingway's long unfinished manuscript, and no earlier edition exists in any language, so there is no original-language or prior-publication precedence question.

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

Documented and common: the Book-of-the-Month Club main selection of this title was supplied from Scribner's fourth printing of July 1986 and carries the "First Edition" slug together with the added line "Fourth Printing July, 1986". This is the single most frequent misidentification for the book — buyers see the slug and stop reading. Later Scribner trade printings behave the same way, retaining the slug and adding a printing line.

I have a first edition of The Garden of Eden — 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.