Is My The Story of Babar (Histoire de Babar) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first issue of the 1931 Paris folio is identified on the verso of the title page: the first issue has no elephant logo/device there, while later printings add the elephant device together with a list of the following titles in the series
• Collation and format: folio (approximately 11 x 15 in / 37 x 26 cm), 47, [1] pp., the French text in de Brunhoff's hand-lettered script, colour illustrations throughout
• The binding is the publisher's pictorial paper-covered boards (orange) with a blue cloth spine and pictorial endpapers; no cataloguing consulted records a dust jacket, so identification rests on the title-page verso and the binding
• Claims that the first edition's plates are hand-laid pochoir appear in listing copy but are not supported by the ABAA cataloguing consulted, which describes the colour illustrations without specifying the process — that assertion is excluded as unconfirmed
• Histoire de Babar was the first non-fashion book issued by Éditions du Jardin des Modes, a Condé Nast subsidiary

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 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 confirmed. The true first is Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, Éditions du Jardin des Modes, Paris, 1931, in French. In English the first is the American edition — The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1933, translated by Merle Haas, a folio of 48 pp. in quarter cloth over illustrated boards with pictorial endpapers — which precedes the first British edition, Methuen, London, 1934. Both English editions are collected. The Methuen edition is distinguished by a preface by A. A. Milne, who saw the French book at a friend's house in 1932 and persuaded Methuen to publish it; the Smith & Haas edition has no Milne preface, so the preface is itself a quick edition test.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the 1931 French first is documented. The traps are (a) later Jardin des Modes printings of the French text, betrayed by the elephant device and the list of sequels on the title-page verso; and (b) the many later reissues of the English text — any English-language Babar bearing a Random House imprint is not the 1933 Smith & Haas first, and any bearing a Methuen imprint is not the American first. Later Methuen and Random House issues are "first thus" at best.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Story of Babar (Histoire de Babar) a first edition?

A first edition of The Story of Babar (Histoire de Babar) by Jean de Brunhoff (Éditions du Jardin des Modes) is identified by: The first issue of the 1931 Paris folio is identified on the verso of the title page: the first issue has no elephant logo/device there, while later printings add the elephant device together with a list of the following titles in the series.

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. The census claim is confirmed.

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

No book-club issue of the 1931 French first is documented. The traps are (a) later Jardin des Modes printings of the French text, betrayed by the elephant device and the list of sequels on the title-page verso; and (b) the many later reissues of the English text — any English-language Babar bearing a Random House imprint is not the 1933 Smith & Haas first, and any bearing a Methuen imprint is not the American first. Later Methuen and Random House issues are "first thus" at best.

I have a first edition of The Story of Babar (Histoire de Babar) — 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.