Is My The Leopard a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Italian true first: Il Gattopardo, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1958, issued in the Biblioteca di Letteratura series directed by Giorgio Bassani as "I Contemporanei" no
• The title page is dated November 1958 while the colophon records the printing finished 25 October 1958, and the run was about 3,000 copies, exhausted by December 1958
• The first-printing binding is card/boards with a colour illustration whose orange tint was not repeated on the reprints that followed within weeks, and copies were issued with a publisher's bookmark (segnalibro editoriale) that is usually absent
• First edition in English: Collins and Harvill, London, 1960, translated by Archibald Colquhoun, 255 pages, in publisher's green cloth with gilt spine lettering, in a dust jacket designed by Hans Tisdall with "Book Society Choice" printed on the front inner flap and the price present at the flap
• Later Collins and Harvill copies state "Second Impression" on the verso, so an unqualified 1960 first-publication line with no impression statement is the check
• First American: Pantheon Books, New York, 1960, same Colquhoun translation

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. 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 American 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?

Il Gattopardo (Feltrinelli, Milan, 1958) is the true first, published posthumously after both Mondadori and Einaudi had rejected the manuscript. Two English editions of 1960 are collected and both should be named: Collins and Harvill, London — recorded by the trade as the first edition in English — and Pantheon, New York, the first American. Both carry Colquhoun's translation and both are dated 1960; month-level precedence between them is not documented in the sources consulted, so on present evidence neither should be described as preceding the other. Separate "first thus" trap: Feltrinelli's December 1969 "edizione conforme al manoscritto del 1957" prints a different, corrected text from the 1958 Bassani-edited first, with a numbered leather issue following in December 1970 and a "ventennale" edition in 1978 — none of these is the first edition despite the manuscript-authority claim.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A 1960 Pantheon book-club issue is offered by dealers alongside the trade first American; no published point list separating the two is recorded in the sources consulted, so the copyright page and jacket flap must both be checked rather than the date alone. On the UK side, the "Book Society Choice" line on the Collins and Harvill jacket flap is a publisher's jacket blurb on the trade issue and does not make a copy a club edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Leopard a first edition?

A first edition of The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Feltrinelli, Milan) is identified by: Italian true first: Il Gattopardo, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1958, issued in the Biblioteca di Letteratura series directed by Giorgio Bassani as "I Contemporanei" no.

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. Il Gattopardo (Feltrinelli, Milan, 1958) is the true first, published posthumously after both Mondadori and Einaudi had rejected the manuscript.

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

A 1960 Pantheon book-club issue is offered by dealers alongside the trade first American; no published point list separating the two is recorded in the sources consulted, so the copyright page and jacket flap must both be checked rather than the date alone. On the UK side, the "Book Society Choice" line on the Collins and Harvill jacket flap is a publisher's jacket blurb on the trade issue and does not make a copy a club edition.

I have a first edition of The Leopard — 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.