Is My The Power of Positive Thinking a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1952 (published October 1952), bound in blue paper-covered boards lettered in white on the front board and spine, in a pictorial dust jacket, priced at the front flap (price present, unclipped)
• Prentice-Hall used no number line on this title, so the first printing is identified negatively: the copyright page bears the 1952 copyright with NO statement of any additional or later printing, and the jacket carries no later-printing or award additions
• The tell is an absence-of-statement point corroborated by two independent dealer catalog descriptions (Burnside Rare Books
• Bagatelle Books); the book was reprinted heavily and reprints add a printing statement to the copyright page

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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 first (Prentice-Hall, New York, 1952) is the true first and the only edition collected as such; there is no UK or foreign-language precedence issue. Chief trap: Prentice-Hall retained the 'First Edition' slug on the copyright page while adding a printing number, so copies stated 'First Edition' can in fact be later printings (e.g., 'First Edition, Fourteenth Printing' copies exist) — a stated first edition alone does not equal first printing.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No documented contemporaneous first-year book-club issue is the common pitfall here; instead the trap is the very large number of Prentice-Hall printings that keep the 'First Edition' wording. Any copy whose copyright page names a printing after the first is a reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Power of Positive Thinking a first edition?

A first edition of The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (Prentice-Hall, Inc.) is identified by: True first: Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1952 (published October 1952), bound in blue paper-covered boards lettered in white on the front board and spine, in a pictorial dust jacket, priced at the front flap (price present, unclipped).

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). US first (Prentice-Hall, New York, 1952) is the true first and the only edition collected as such; there is no UK or foreign-language precedence issue.

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

No documented contemporaneous first-year book-club issue is the common pitfall here; instead the trap is the very large number of Prentice-Hall printings that keep the 'First Edition' wording. Any copy whose copyright page names a printing after the first is a reprint.

I have a first edition of The Power of Positive Thinking — 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.