Is My The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (written and illustrated by Howard Pyle) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The prized first is the Charles Scribner's Sons (New York) 1883 issue, catalogued BAL 16378 — Pyle's first book, which he wrote, illustrated, and designed entirely (text, every illustration, decorative borders, historiated initials and vignettes, plus the font, layout, paper, and binding)
• First-printing points: the title page is dated in Roman numerals MDCCCLXXXIII and the copyright leaf reads only 1883 (no later cumulative dates); all page edges are tinted orange; and the endpapers are the original coated brown stock
• Illustration complement is a frontispiece (with tissue guard) plus 23 plates, with head- and tail-pieces throughout (some catalogues count 22 full-page plates)
• Format is variously catalogued as crown octavo or small quarto, collating pp. xx + 296
• Two publisher's bindings of the American first are recorded and precedence between them is not firmly documented: (a) brown cloth-covered boards, the front cover printed in black and red with gilt lettering to cover and spine; and (b) a fine full brown-leather binding, elaborately blind-stamped, with a red spine label and orange edges
• Treat a bright, unrestored copy in original binding with the MDCCCLXXXIII title page, 1883-only copyright, and orange edges as the collected first

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

• Pre-1930: Scribner seal/device plus month-and-year of publication on copyright page; first printings either carry matching dates on title page and copyright page or show no later printings noted.

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. 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 true first is the American issue: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1883 (title page MDCCCLXXXIII, copyright 1883, BAL 16378). A London issue under Sampson Low also appeared in 1883, bound differently — bevel-edged pale green pictorial cloth blocked in brown, black endpapers, orange edges — and is generally treated as the secondary English issue, said (only tentatively in the trade, "perhaps from the sheets of the first New York edition") to have used or followed the Scribner sheets; that sheets relationship is not firmly documented, so it should be stated as a possibility, not a fact. Because Robin Hood had no signed/numbered deluxe printing, the trade first is itself the prized true first. Precedence between the American cloth binding and the full-leather binding is likewise not firmly established; a clean copy in either original Scribner binding with the correct title page, 1883-only copyright, and orange edges is the standard collected first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Scribner never issued a cheap or paper edition and kept the book in a controlled, fine format, so later Scribner printings closely resemble the 1883 first and are a common trap. The decisive test is the copyright leaf: the true first shows only 1883, whereas later printings carry additional cumulative copyright dates (e.g., 1883 plus 1902/1911 and later) even when the pictorial cover and MDCCCLXXXIII title page look identical. Note especially the 1902 REVISED/condensed edition, for which Pyle supplied a new apologetic preface — it is a distinct later edition, not the first. Edges that are not orange-tinted, or bright/white modern endpapers rather than the original brown, signal a later printing or a rebound copy. Beware modern print-on-demand and leatherette gift reissues that merely reproduce the 1883 copyright notice; verify the actual copyright leaf and the orange edges rather than trusting a stated "1883." (The draft's specific reprint years — 1892, 1903, 1905 — and the "limited run every second year" phrasing are not well supported and have been dropped in favor of the copyright-leaf test and the documented 1902 revision.)

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (written and illustrated by Howard Pyle) a first edition?

A first edition of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (written and illustrated by Howard Pyle) by Howard Pyle (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York) is identified by: The prized first is the Charles Scribner's Sons (New York) 1883 issue, catalogued BAL 16378 — Pyle's first book, which he wrote, illustrated, and designed entirely (text, every illustration, decorative borders, historiated initials and vignettes, plus the font, layout, paper, and binding).

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 true first is the American issue: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1883 (title page MDCCCLXXXIII, copyright 1883, BAL 16378).

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

Scribner never issued a cheap or paper edition and kept the book in a controlled, fine format, so later Scribner printings closely resemble the 1883 first and are a common trap. The decisive test is the copyright leaf: the true first shows only 1883, whereas later printings carry additional cumulative copyright dates (e.g., 1883 plus 1902/1911 and later) even when the pictorial cover and MDCCCLXXXIII title page look identical. Note especially the 1902 REVISED/condensed edition, for which Pyle su

I have a first edition of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (written and illustrated by Howard Pyle) — 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.