Is My The Obscene Bird of Night a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First English edition, translated by Hardie St
• Martin and Leonard Mades: Alfred A. Knopf cloth in dust jacket, New York, 1973
• This Knopf translation is abridged (roughly twenty pages cut versus the Spanish text)

How Alfred A. Knopf, New York marked a first edition

• c.1970s onward (number-line era, added ALONGSIDE the words — it did not replace them): later Knopf firsts also carry a descending numeric printer's key (often with a manufacturing/printer code). A first printing shows th…

Full Alfred A. Knopf, 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. 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.
4. 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 edition is the Spanish 'El obsceno pájaro de la noche' (Seix Barral, Barcelona, 1970). The 1973 Knopf is the first (abridged) English-language edition. The 2024 New Directions edition revises the St. Martin/Mades translation with Megan McDowell, restoring nearly twenty pages of previously untranslated text — a distinct first-thus for the complete text, not a reprint of the Knopf text.P-016949

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Godine and later paperbacks reprint the abridged Knopf text; the McDowell unabridged edition is a separate first-thus, not a book-club edition or reprint of the 1973 cloth.P-016950

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Obscene Bird of Night a first edition?

A first edition of The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades) (Alfred A. Knopf, New York) is identified by: First English edition, translated by Hardie St.

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 edition is the Spanish 'El obsceno pájaro de la noche' (Seix Barral, Barcelona, 1970).

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

Godine and later paperbacks reprint the abridged Knopf text; the McDowell unabridged edition is a separate first-thus, not a book-club edition or reprint of the 1973 cloth.

I have a first edition of The Obscene Bird of Night — 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.