Is My The Story of Little Black Sambo a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Grant Richards, London, first printed October 1899, as No
• 4 of The Dumpy Books for Children
• 16mo, approximately 4 the printed price x 3 inches (124 x 75mm), collating viii, 57, [1 blank], [1 printer's imprint], [1 blank] pp, with a three-page preface by Bannerman
• Twenty-seven full-page colour illustrations after the author's own drawings, engraved on wood and colour-printed by Edmund Evans
• Original pale green cloth lettered and blocked in darker green, with ruled borders and vertical stripes
• The decisive point is the printing statement on the verso of the title page: the November reprint reads 'First printed October, 1899

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?

UK Grant Richards, London, October 1899 is the true first, and the census is correct on that. The first American edition is Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1900, which followed and is separately collected. CORRECTION to the census: the Stokes 1900 edition did NOT use different art. Stokes bought the rights from Grant Richards and its edition reproduces Bannerman's own illustrations, differing in its cover binding rather than its artwork. The versions with genuinely different art are the later unauthorised American editions — illustrated by John R. Neill (1908), Frank Dobias (Macmillan, 1927), and Ethel Hays (Saalfield, 1942) among at least twenty-seven English-language versions issued between 1905 and 1953, which relocated the setting and imposed racial caricature absent from Bannerman's drawings. That distinction matters bibliographically and historically and should be stated accurately.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Stokes added the line 'The Only Authorized American Edition' to its 1923 edition to distinguish itself in a market crowded with piracies — that line is a 1923-or-later tell and is emphatically not a first-edition point, despite being read as one. Any copy with illustrations not after Bannerman is a later unauthorised edition. Modern facsimiles of the first American illustrated edition are in print and are catalogued as facsimiles, not firsts.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Story of Little Black Sambo a first edition?

A first edition of The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman (Grant Richards) is identified by: Grant Richards, London, first printed October 1899, as No.

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. UK Grant Richards, London, October 1899 is the true first, and the census is correct on that.

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

Stokes added the line 'The Only Authorized American Edition' to its 1923 edition to distinguish itself in a market crowded with piracies — that line is a 1923-or-later tell and is emphatically not a first-edition point, despite being read as one. Any copy with illustrations not after Bannerman is a later unauthorised edition. Modern facsimiles of the first American illustrated edition are in print and are catalogued as facsimiles, not firsts.

I have a first edition of The Story of Little Black Sambo — 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.