Is My The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, quarto (approx
• 269 x 205 mm), collating v, 468, [6] index, [1] errata, printed by T. Bensley for B. White and Son at Horace's Head, Fleet Street
• The standard first-edition points are pagination faults present in all copies: p
• 292 misnumbered 262, and pp
• 441-442 omitted from the pagination sequence with no loss of text
• The errata leaf must be present

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 UK 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?

A London original in English: no UK-versus-US and no original-language precedence question arises. The real hazard is 'first thus'. Selborne is among the most reprinted natural-history books in English; the second edition did not appear until 1802 and the third in 1813, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced an unbroken stream of re-issues, many newly illustrated. Later editions also treat the twenty-six letters on antiquities inconsistently and sometimes drop the Antiquities section altogether, so a copy lacking the Antiquities material and its separate engraved title is certainly not the 1789 quarto.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Book clubs postdate the book, so the reprint tells carry the whole burden. Only the 1789 quarto printed by T. Bensley for B. White and Son — with the errata leaf, the 292-for-262 misnumbering, the 441-442 pagination gap, both engraved titles and the seven plates — is the first edition. Any octavo, any edition dated 1802 or later, any newly illustrated edition, and any facsimile is a reprint regardless of how convincingly period the binding looks; donor copies are overwhelmingly likely to be later editions.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne a first edition?

A first edition of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne by Gilbert White (Printed by T. Bensley for B. White and Son, London) is identified by: First edition, quarto (approx.

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. A London original in English: no UK-versus-US and no original-language precedence question arises.

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

Book clubs postdate the book, so the reprint tells carry the whole burden. Only the 1789 quarto printed by T. Bensley for B. White and Son — with the errata leaf, the 292-for-262 misnumbering, the 441-442 pagination gap, both engraved titles and the seven plates — is the first edition. Any octavo, any edition dated 1802 or later, any newly illustrated edition, and any facsimile is a reprint regardless of how convincingly period the binding looks; donor copies are overwhelmingly likely to be late

I have a first edition of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne — 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.