Is My The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Folio, London 1589
• As a hand-press book it carries no edition statement, no number line and no dust jacket; identification rests on the imprint, collation and completeness
• References: STC 12625
• ESTC S106735
• Church 139-139A; Alden 589/31
• Collation: pp. [16], 242, [2 blank], 243-505, [1], 506-643, [12], 644-825, [12], with medial blank X4 and terminal blank 4F4

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. 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.
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 London 1589 folio is the true first and the census claim is confirmed. The enlarged three-volume second edition (London: George Bishop, Ralph Newberie and Robert Barker, 1598-1600) is a substantially different and much larger work rather than a reprint, and is collected in parallel with the 1589 first. One correction to the census note: it is not accurate that the second edition 'must include' the Voyage to Cadiz leaves. Volume one exists in two title-page states — the 1598 title advertising Essex's 'famous victorie' at Cadiz, and a reset title dated 1599 that omits the Cadiz reference — and the Cadiz narrative at pp. 607-619 was withdrawn from many copies after Essex's fall from favour. A 1599-dated volume one without the Cadiz leaves is a legitimate later state, not a made-up or incomplete copy.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for a 1589 folio. The reprints to know are the nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarly editions and the Hakluyt Society reprints, all of which carry their own later imprints and dates on the title and are not confusable with the folio on inspection. The practical made-up-copy tells for the 1589 are a facsimile or supplied world map, facsimile Drake leaves, and leaves remargined or supplied from another copy; the map and the Drake leaves should both be examined against the rest of the text paper.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation a first edition?

A first edition of The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation by Richard Hakluyt (George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, London) is identified by: As a hand-press book it carries no edition statement, no number line and no dust jacket; identification rests on the imprint, collation and completeness.

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). The London 1589 folio is the true first and the census claim is confirmed.

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

No book-club issue exists for a 1589 folio. The reprints to know are the nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarly editions and the Hakluyt Society reprints, all of which carry their own later imprints and dates on the title and are not confusable with the folio on inspection. The practical made-up-copy tells for the 1589 are a facsimile or supplied world map, facsimile Drake leaves, and leaves remargined or supplied from another copy; the map and the Drake leaves should both be examined again

I have a first edition of The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation — 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.