Is My The Rebel a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is L'Homme révolté, Gallimard, Paris, 1951, issued in original wrappers (broché) — no hardcover publisher's binding
• Gallimard issued a tirage de tête ahead of the ordinary copies: 45 numbered copies on Hollande (of which 5 are hors commerce), 260 numbered copies on vélin pur fil from the papeteries Lafuma-Navarre, and copies on alfa from the Papeteries du Marais; dealers also record Madagascar copies hors commerce reserved for the author
• Numbered large-paper copies carry their paper and number statement in the limitation; ordinary copies do not
• Service de presse (review) copies of the ordinary issue exist and are so marked
• For the first edition in English (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1953): the copyright page of the true first printing reads "First published in Great Britain 1953"; publisher's red cloth with gilt spine lettering, 273 pages, translated by Anthony Bower with a foreword by Sir Herbert Read; the jacket should be unclipped with the price present at the flap

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. 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 UK 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?

French original-language true first: Gallimard, Paris, 1951 (L'Homme révolté). The first edition in English is Hamish Hamilton, London, 1953 (trans. Anthony Bower, introduction by Sir Herbert Read) — the UK precedes the US. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1954 is the first American edition and is collected in its own right, but it is not the first in English and must not be catalogued as such.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the Gallimard 1951 or the Hamish Hamilton 1953 in the sources consulted. The Gallimard first is a wrappers issue — any hardcover 1951 copy in leather or half-binding is a later private/collector binding of the sheets, not a publisher's binding, and should be described as such.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Rebel a first edition?

A first edition of The Rebel by Albert Camus (Éditions Gallimard, Paris) is identified by: Census claim confirmed.

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. French original-language true first: Gallimard, Paris, 1951 (L'Homme révolté).

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

No book-club issue is documented for the Gallimard 1951 or the Hamish Hamilton 1953 in the sources consulted. The Gallimard first is a wrappers issue — any hardcover 1951 copy in leather or half-binding is a later private/collector binding of the sheets, not a publisher's binding, and should be described as such.

I have a first edition of The Rebel — 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.