Is My The Loney a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published 1 October 2014 by Tartarus Press in its standard house format: a sewn hardback of 278 pages, printed lithographically, with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, decorated boards and a dust jacket
• Each copy is signed by the author on the title page; the copies are unnumbered, so there is no limitation statement giving a copy number to check
• The publisher and multiple dealer descriptions state a limitation of 300 signed copies; some secondary reference works give 350 instead, and that figure is not supported by the publisher's own account, so 300 should be treated as the documented number
• Beware the recurring cataloguing error in which the 278-page count is transcribed as a copy count

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 US 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 Tartarus Press hardback (Coverdale, 1 October 2014) is the true first and the census claim is confirmed. The common state — and the copy nearly everyone means when they say "first edition of The Loney" — is the John Murray (London) trade edition of 2015, which followed the Costa First Novel Award attention and is a first thus, not the first. This is a textbook small-press-precedence trap: the John Murray printing is the widely distributed book, the Tartarus is the true first, and the two look nothing alike. No US edition precedes either; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's American edition follows the John Murray.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the Tartarus issue is documented, and none would be expected of a signed small-press limitation. The reprint tells run the other way: the 2015 John Murray trade edition and subsequent paperback issues are frequently listed as "first edition" on the strength of a John Murray number line, which identifies only the first printing of the trade edition. A Tartarus copy is identified by the publisher's imprint, the 2014 date, the signature on the title page and the house binding specification; anything carrying a John Murray or Hodder imprint is a later edition regardless of what its number line says.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Loney a first edition?

A first edition of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley (Tartarus Press, Coverdale) is identified by: Published 1 October 2014 by Tartarus Press in its standard house format: a sewn hardback of 278 pages, printed lithographically, with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, decorated boards and a dust jacket.

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 Tartarus Press hardback (Coverdale, 1 October 2014) is the true first and the census claim is confirmed.

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

No book-club edition of the Tartarus issue is documented, and none would be expected of a signed small-press limitation. The reprint tells run the other way: the 2015 John Murray trade edition and subsequent paperback issues are frequently listed as "first edition" on the strength of a John Murray number line, which identifies only the first printing of the trade edition. A Tartarus copy is identified by the publisher's imprint, the 2014 date, the signature on the title page and the house bindin

I have a first edition of The Loney — 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.