Is My The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth hardcover, and a signed cloth hardcover limited to 50 copies
• The hardcover states, not the wraps, represent the higher first-edition issue
• A slim volume of poetic prose vignettes derived from Joseph Cornell's assemblages

How Burning Deck marked a first edition

• Letterpress craft house: identification is colophon-driven. A rear colophon typically states the edition size and distinguishes signed/numbered copies from the trade run; number lines are not the relevant signal for the…
• Many titles were printed in a single small edition with no reprint statement; the colophon's stated edition size, combined with the absence of any later-printing notice, identifies the issue.

Full Burning Deck first-edition guide →

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?

True first is the 2002 Burning Deck edition. The original record described only the paperback wraps; in fact cloth hardcover states (including a signed issue of 50) were published the same year and are the senior issue. Five of the texts appeared earlier in the anthology A Convergence of Birds (D.A.P., 2001), so that anthology holds the first appearance of those pieces.P-027054

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

None notable.P-027055

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell) a first edition?

A first edition of The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell) by Robert Coover (Burning Deck) is identified by: Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth hardcover, and a signed cloth hardcover limited to 50 copies.

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. True first is the 2002 Burning Deck edition.

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

None notable.

I have a first edition of The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell) — 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.