Is My The Vegetable, or From President to Postman a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The copyright page of the first printing reads "Published April, 1923" beneath the Scribner seal
• This is pre-1930 Scribner practice — the firm had not yet adopted the "A" device — so there is no edition statement and no number line to look for, and the dated publication line under the seal is the whole test
• Bound in dark green cloth, the spine lettered in gilt and the upper board lettered in blind, with fore- and bottom edges untrimmed
• 8vo (about 19.5 cm), [viii], 145, [1] pp. plus 2 pp. of advertisements; the title page carries Fitzgerald's epigraph beginning "Any man who doesn't want to get on in the world..."
• Published 27 April 1923 in a printing of 7,650 copies
• The pictorial jacket, illustrated by John Held, Jr., is very seldom present; the first-state jacket carries blurbs for The Beautiful and Damned and Tales of the Jazz Age on the front flap and advertisements for the fifth printing of Flappers and Philosophers and the thirteenth printing of This Side of Paradise on the rear flap

How Charles Scribner's Sons, New York marked a first edition

• Pre-1930: Scribner seal/device plus month-and-year of publication on copyright page; first printings either carry matching dates on title page and copyright page or show no later printings noted.

Full Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 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 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 US 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?

A US-only true first: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, April 1923. No contemporaneous British edition was published, so there is no UK/US precedence question — this is one of the few Fitzgerald 'A' items with a single claimant. It is Fitzgerald's only published play, and the book precedes the play's stage life (the Atlantic City tryout came in November 1923), so the book text is the first appearance. Modern reprints of the play are first thus and carry a different copyright page; the "Published April, 1923" line under the Scribner seal is the only first-printing test. The census claim (US-only first, Scribner's 1923) is confirmed as stated.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted — the play failed commercially and the sources record only the Scribner printing of 7,650 copies, though the Bruccoli "A10.1.a" designation formally leaves room for later printings the sources did not describe. The practical reprint tell is the absence of the "Published April, 1923" line under the Scribner seal on the copyright page. Because the jacket is so rarely present, an unjacketed copy is normal for this title and is not itself evidence against a first printing.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Vegetable, or From President to Postman a first edition?

A first edition of The Vegetable, or From President to Postman by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York) is identified by: The copyright page of the first printing reads "Published April, 1923" beneath the Scribner seal.

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). A US-only true first: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, April 1923.

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

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted — the play failed commercially and the sources record only the Scribner printing of 7,650 copies, though the Bruccoli "A10.1.a" designation formally leaves room for later printings the sources did not describe. The practical reprint tell is the absence of the "Published April, 1923" line under the Scribner seal on the copyright page. Because the jacket is so rarely present, an unjacketed copy is normal for this title and is not itself evi

I have a first edition of The Vegetable, or From President to Postman — 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.