Is My The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The title-page imprint reads: "London: Printed for and sold by the AUTHOR, No
• 10, Union-Street, Middlesex Hospital: Sold also by Mr
• Johnson, St
• Paul's Church-Yard
• Murray, Fleet-Street
• Robson and Clark, Bond-Street

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?

The London 1789 two-volume self-published edition is the true first; there is no earlier or competing original-language printing, and the census claim is confirmed. Equiano retained control of the book and issued a rapid sequence of numbered editions through 1794, among them a Dublin fourth (1791), an Edinburgh fifth (1792) and a Norwich eighth (1794). The first American edition is New York: printed and sold by W. Durell, 1791 (Evans 23353), two volumes with plates engraved by Cornelius Tiebout — reprinted without Equiano's authorisation. The New York 1791 is separately collected as the first American, but it is a reprint of the London text, not a state of the first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Not applicable — the book predates book-club publishing. The reprint tell across the eighteenth-century sequence is the numbered edition statement on the title page ("SECOND EDITION" onward), which the 1789 first alone lacks. Nineteenth-century and modern reprints and scholarly editions are set from the 1789 or 1794 text and are identified by their own imprints and dates.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano a first edition?

A first edition of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano (Printed for and sold by the author, London) is identified by: Two volumes, self-published.

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. The London 1789 two-volume self-published edition is the true first; there is no earlier or competing original-language printing, and the census claim is confirmed.

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

Not applicable — the book predates book-club publishing. The reprint tell across the eighteenth-century sequence is the numbered edition statement on the title page ("SECOND EDITION" onward), which the 1789 first alone lacks. Nineteenth-century and modern reprints and scholarly editions are set from the 1789 or 1794 text and are identified by their own imprints and dates.

I have a first edition of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano — 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.