Is My The Tartar Steppe a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is Il deserto dei Tartari, Rizzoli & C. Editori, Milano–Roma, 1940, and it is a landmark of Italian twentieth-century collecting: it inaugurated the series 'Il Sofà delle Muse' directed by Leo Longanesi, standing as number 1 in that collection
• The first printing was finished at the Rizzoli & C. presses in Milan on 25 April 1940 — the finito di stampare date is the primary identification point, as Rizzoli used no edition statement or number line
• Format is 16° (roughly 193 x 130 mm), 277 pages plus three unnumbered leaves
• Two simultaneous issues exist and both are contemporary: a cloth issue in full ochre linen with maroon relief lettering to boards and spine, and a wrappers (brossura) issue; both were supplied with the same illustrated photographic dust jacket, black-and-white with the title in red to the front panel, the author's photograph and biography to the first flap and a mini-catalogue of the first four Longanesi series titles to the second flap
• The jacket carries a printed price at the flap, and the cloth and wrappers issues were issued at different printed prices, so a jacket must match its binding
• Per the Gambetti–Vezzosi bibliography (Repertorio, 2007) the cloth issue is the rarer of the two

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. 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 British 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?

Italian true first: Rizzoli, Milan–Rome, 1940. The first English translation is Stuart C. Hood's, published in 1952 by Secker & Warburg, London, and Farrar, Straus and Young, New York. Precedence between the two is not established: the translation's setting was made and printed in Great Britain by William Clowes and Sons of London and Beccles, which is suggestive of British priority (and of the US issue possibly using imported sheets), but no source consulted states which appeared first, so both 1952 issues should be treated as collected and precedence left open. 'First thus' trap: the Lawrence Venuti translation (2023) is a new text, not a reissue of the Hood first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1940 Rizzoli first. The chief later-edition tell is publisher rather than printing: Buzzati's novel was subsequently taken up by Mondadori, so any Mondadori imprint is by definition a later edition, never the first. Later Rizzoli (BUR) paperbacks are separable by series and ISBN.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Tartar Steppe a first edition?

A first edition of The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (Rizzoli & C. Editori, Milan–Rome) is identified by: The true first is Il deserto dei Tartari, Rizzoli & C.

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). Italian true first: Rizzoli, Milan–Rome, 1940.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1940 Rizzoli first. The chief later-edition tell is publisher rather than printing: Buzzati's novel was subsequently taken up by Mondadori, so any Mondadori imprint is by definition a later edition, never the first. Later Rizzoli (BUR) paperbacks are separable by series and ISBN.

I have a first edition of The Tartar Steppe — 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.