Is My The Sandman: The Dream Hunters a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Illustrated prose/art book with Yoshitaka Amano paintings
• 1999 hardcover first printing (DC Comics/Vertigo, ISBN 1-56389-573-0 / 978-1-56389-573-9), identified by the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page
• Issued in pictorial boards without a dust jacket, with brush-painted endpapers and a gate-fold Amano painting of Morpheus, 126 pages

How DC Comics / Vertigo marked a first edition

• Modern DC collected editions use a descending number line in the indicia ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); the lowest number present is the printing, so '1' present indicates a first printing.

Full DC Comics / Vertigo first-edition guide →

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 indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

True first is the 1999 Amano-illustrated hardcover (first-thus); it won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative. The later P. Craig Russell comic adaptation (2009) is a separate work with its own first.P-022471

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Russell adaptation editions are distinct works; later hardcover printings show a number line that does not run to 1.P-022472

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters a first edition?

A first edition of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman & Yoshitaka Amano (DC Comics / Vertigo) is identified by: Illustrated prose/art book with Yoshitaka Amano paintings; 1999 hardcover first printing (DC Comics/Vertigo, ISBN 1-56389-573-0 / 978-1-56389-573-9), identified by the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. True first is the 1999 Amano-illustrated hardcover (first-thus); it won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative.

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

Russell adaptation editions are distinct works; later hardcover printings show a number line that does not run to 1.

I have a first edition of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters — 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.