Is My The Nick Adams Stories a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing carries the Scribner code 'A-4.72 (V)' on the copyright page — the 'A' denoting the first edition, 4.72 the April 1972 production date, and the parenthetical letter the manufacturer/binding code
• This refines the census claim: the point is not a bare 'A' but the full code, and its absence (or a code with a different date/letter) marks a later printing
• Scribner's house practice since 1930 has been an 'A' on the copyright page, sometimes with the Scribner seal and sometimes with a month/year and manufacturer code, which corroborates the form of this code
• Bound in blue cloth, title in gilt on the spine, with a facsimile Hemingway signature stamped in gilt on the front cover, in the publisher's priced jacket (price present at the front flap)

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

• The famous capital 'A' on the copyright page denotes a first printing. Introduced late 1929 and used 1930-1973.

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. 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 US 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?

US Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972 is the true first and the edition collected — the census claim stands. The volume gathers 24 stories and sketches, eight of them previously unpublished, and appeared a decade after Hemingway's death. No contemporaneous British edition is documented in the sources consulted; the census claim of 'no UK counterpart' is consistent with what was found, but this is an absence of evidence rather than a positive bibliographical finding, and no UK-precedence question arises in any case.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is specifically documented for this title in the sources consulted. Generally, Scribner book-club copies do not carry the copyright-page 'A' code and are typically blind-stamped on the rear board with an unpriced jacket; a copy lacking 'A-4.72 (V)' is not the first printing whatever else it shows. The Bantam paperback and later Scribner reissues are reprints.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Nick Adams Stories a first edition?

A first edition of The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York) is identified by: The first printing carries the Scribner code 'A-4.72 (V)' on the copyright page — the 'A' denoting the first edition, 4.72 the April 1972 production date, and the parenthetical letter the manufacturer/binding code.

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. US Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972 is the true first and the edition collected — the census claim stands.

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

No book-club issue is specifically documented for this title in the sources consulted. Generally, Scribner book-club copies do not carry the copyright-page 'A' code and are typically blind-stamped on the rear board with an unpriced jacket; a copy lacking 'A-4.72 (V)' is not the first printing whatever else it shows. The Bantam paperback and later Scribner reissues are reprints.

I have a first edition of The Nick Adams Stories — 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.