Is My The Secret to Superhuman Strength a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021 (ISBN 9780358554844 for the trade issue), full color with color art by Holly Rae Taylor
• First printing carries a full number line ending in 1

How Houghton Mifflin Harcourt marked a first edition

• Number line (1970s–present)

Full Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 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?

An all-original graphic memoir; the 2021 HMH hardcover is the true first book edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later printings remove the 1 from the number line; the first printing shows a complete descending line ending in 1.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Secret to Superhuman Strength a first edition?

A first edition of The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is identified by: First edition hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021 (ISBN 9780358554844 for the trade issue), full color with color art by Holly Rae Taylor.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. An all-original graphic memoir; the 2021 HMH hardcover is the true first book edition.

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

Later printings remove the 1 from the number line; the first printing shows a complete descending line ending in 1.

I have a first edition of The Secret to Superhuman Strength — what should I do?

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 lost. To sell, see the author’s collecting guide. Either way, nothing collectible ends up in a landfill.

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.