Is My The Vampyre: A Tale a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First book edition, London 1819: octavo, pp. xxv, [i], [27]-84, some copies with a publisher's catalogue dated January 1819 bound in
• Viets records five issues — two with the Henry Colburn imprint (the first, naming Byron, presumed lost; the second surviving in a handful of copies), then three with the Sherwood, Neely, and Jones imprint
• The first Sherwood issue retains the fraudulent title-page attribution to the Right Honourable Lord Byron; the second Sherwood issue, the earliest generally obtainable, drops Byron from the title and keeps the early-state points: the preface passage on 'two sisters as the partakers of his revels,' the Frankenstein footnote, and the page 36 misprint 'lmost' for 'almost.' Later issues reset the preliminaries (preface reset from 24 to 23 lines) and remove or correct these readings

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. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 tale first appeared in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, 1 April 1819, misattributed to Byron; the separate London 1819 book edition is the collected first. The census claim of Sherwood, Neely, and Jones is correct for obtainable copies, but the technical first issues carry Henry Colburn's imprint and were suppressed — worth stating precisely in the record.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Within-edition tells: reset 23-line preface, removal of the 'two sisters' passage and Frankenstein footnote, and corrected 'almost' on p. 36 all mark later issues of 1819.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Vampyre: A Tale a first edition?

A first edition of The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori (Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London) is identified by: First book edition, London 1819: octavo, pp.

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 tale first appeared in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, 1 April 1819, misattributed to Byron; the separate London 1819 book edition is the collected first.

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

Within-edition tells: reset 23-line preface, removal of the 'two sisters' passage and Frankenstein footnote, and corrected 'almost' on p. 36 all mark later issues of 1819.

I have a first edition of The Vampyre: A Tale — 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.