Is My The Railway Children a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Wells Gardner, Darton & Co
• Ltd., London, 1906
• 8vo (233 x 144mm)
• Collates half-title, frontispiece, pictorial title, and 19 further plates — twenty plates including the frontispiece — all after C. E. Brock, with 10 pages of publisher's advertisements at the end
• Original pictorial maroon cloth blocked in gilt; top edge gilt, the others uncut
• These points are corroborated independently by a Sotheby's cataloguing of an author-presentation copy and by a specialist dealer description, and they agree in every particular

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. 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. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., London, 1906 is conventionally catalogued as the first edition, by auction houses and specialist dealers alike, and the census is right about the publisher and year. But the census's flat claim that 'US Macmillan followed' is NOT established and should not be relied on. The first American edition — The Macmillan Company, New York, 1906, also with Brock's drawings, 309pp, in pictorial cloth with the title in red to the front board and gilt to the spine, top edge gilt — appeared in the same year, and at least one established dealer (Ulysses Rare Books) states the book was published simultaneously in England and America in 1906. Month-level precedence between the London and New York editions is not documented in any source consulted. Both editions are collected; the American should be described as the first American edition, not as a later reprint of the English.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The chief reprint risk is not book-club issues — the title predates the book-club era — but same-date publisher reprints: later Wells Gardner printings retain the 1906 title-page date, as do early Macmillan New York reprints, and one is offered online explicitly as a '1906 Macmillan early reprint'. Collate for the full complement of twenty Brock plates and for the 10pp of publisher's advertisements at the end, and check the maroon pictorial cloth with top edge gilt and remainder uncut, rather than trusting the title-page date.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Railway Children a first edition?

A first edition of The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd.) is identified by: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.

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. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., London, 1906 is conventionally catalogued as the first edition, by auction houses and specialist dealers alike, and the census is right about the publisher and year.

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

The chief reprint risk is not book-club issues — the title predates the book-club era — but same-date publisher reprints: later Wells Gardner printings retain the 1906 title-page date, as do early Macmillan New York reprints, and one is offered online explicitly as a '1906 Macmillan early reprint'. Collate for the full complement of twenty Brock plates and for the 10pp of publisher's advertisements at the end, and check the maroon pictorial cloth with top edge gilt and remainder uncut, rather th

I have a first edition of The Railway Children — 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.