Is My The Secret Garden a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, published 25 August 1911
• The copyright page, verified against a scanned Stokes copy, reads 'Copyright, 1911, by Frances Hodgson Burnett / Copyright, 1910, 1911, by The Phillips Publishing Co.', followed by the all-rights-reserved notice ('including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian') and 'Printed in the United States of America'; there is no printing statement and no number line, so the point is the 1911 copyright with no additional printings listed
• The Stokes copy examined has an undated title-page imprint reading 'NEW YORK / FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY / PUBLISHERS', so identification rests on the copyright page and the binding rather than on a title-page year
• Collates [vi] + 375 pages
• Per BAL 2115A the first edition was issued simultaneously in two styles: Style A in blind-decorated blue cloth, top edge gilt, WITHOUT illustrations; and Style B in green cloth with a pictorial onlay of the girl in the garden covering most of the front board and gilt lettering to the spine, containing a colour frontispiece and three inserted colour plates by M. L. Kirk
• Neither style is a reprint of the other, and dealer descriptions citing 'four colour plates' are counting the frontispiece

How Frederick A. Stokes Company marked a first edition

• 1881-1890 (White & Stokes; White, Stokes & Allen; Frederick A. Stokes & Brother): no first-edition statement. Date the book by the imprint name itself, which changed on a known schedule: 'White & Stokes' indicates 1881-1…

Full Frederick A. Stokes Company 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 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 American 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?

The census claim is upheld and can be dated, though 'narrowly' overstates it: the American Stokes edition was published in book form on 25 August 1911 and the English edition followed in October 1911 from William Heinemann, London - Stokes precedes by roughly two months, not by days. The Heinemann first English edition is separately collected and is the Charles Robinson book: publisher's green cloth lettered in gilt with a decorative flourish, octavo, 306 pages plus a publisher's catalogue, eight tissue-guarded colour plates, and a title page printed in red and black with a vignette. Both editions are collected and they are not interchangeable - different illustrators entirely. Prior appearance to note: the novel was serialised in ten issues of The American Magazine (published by the Phillips Publishing Co.) from November 1910 to August 1911, illustrated by J. Scott Williams; the Phillips copyright line on the Stokes copyright page is the trace of that serialisation.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Stokes reprinted from the same setting for years, and Grosset & Dunlap and other reprint-house editions are common; because the first carries no printing statement, the reliable checks are the two-part Burnett/Phillips copyright notice with nothing added, and conformity to one of the two BAL binding styles. A green-cloth copy missing the pictorial onlay, the frontispiece or any of the three Kirk plates is defective rather than a distinct state, and a blue-cloth copy is correctly plateless (Style A) rather than incomplete. No book-club issue of the 1911 first is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Secret Garden a first edition?

A first edition of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Frederick A. Stokes Company) is identified by: First edition, first printing: Frederick A.

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 census claim is upheld and can be dated, though 'narrowly' overstates it: the American Stokes edition was published in book form on 25 August 1911 and the English edition followed in October 1911 from William Heinemann, London - Stokes precedes by roughly two months, not by days.

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

Stokes reprinted from the same setting for years, and Grosset & Dunlap and other reprint-house editions are common; because the first carries no printing statement, the reliable checks are the two-part Burnett/Phillips copyright notice with nothing added, and conformity to one of the two BAL binding styles. A green-cloth copy missing the pictorial onlay, the frontispiece or any of the three Kirk plates is defective rather than a distinct state, and a blue-cloth copy is correctly plateless (Style

I have a first edition of The Secret Garden — 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.