Is My The Wind in the Willows a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Original-language (English) first edition: Methuen & Co., London, 1908 — published 8 October 1908
• Octavo (approx
• 19.8 x 13.3 cm); collation pp. viii + 302 (dealer collations give roughly [1] + viii + 302 + terminal blank)
• Bound in publisher's green / dark blue-green cloth (variously cataloged "green" or "blue-green"), extravagantly stamped in gilt on spine and front board: the upper board bears the "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (Pan) design and the spine shows Toad in motoring costume amid reeds; top edge gilt, other edges rough-cut / untrimmed
• Single black-and-white frontispiece by W. Graham Robertson with tissue guard — the text is OTHERWISE UNILLUSTRATED, which distinguishes the true 1908 first from the later fully-illustrated Shepard
• and Rackham

How Methuen & Co., London marked a first edition

• Since 1905: state "First published in [Year]" or "First published in Great Britain [Year]" on the copyright page of firsts, with later printings noted

Full Methuen & Co., London 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. 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?

Original language is English, so no foreign-language "first English translation" applies. The relevant precedence question is the near-simultaneous transatlantic 1908 issue: the London Methuen edition (8 October 1908) is the universally cataloged true first edition, carrying the Graham Robertson frontispiece and unillustrated text. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York issued the American first edition the same season (1908), likewise with the Graham Robertson frontispiece and unillustrated text. Day-priority is contested: Wikipedia, Peter Harrington, Whitmore, Sotheby's and mainstream dealer consensus treat Methuen/London as the true first (Scribner "later"); a competing claim — sourced to a Books Tell You Why trade article and a Biblio listing echoing it — asserts the Scribner issue preceded Methuen by four days. That four-days claim traces to a single lineage rather than independent bibliographic authority, and the Methuen 1908 remains the collecting benchmark and the cataloged first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is relevant to first-edition identification. Beware conflating the 1908 first with later reissues: the Methuen edition was reprinted many times (later impressions state additional printings and/or carry the printed price second-issue jacket). Distinct illustrated editions — Paul Bransom (Scribner, 1913, first illustrated), Wyndham Payne (Methuen, 1927), Ernest H. Shepard (Methuen, 1931), and Arthur Rackham (Limited Editions Club, New York, 1940) — are separate publications, NOT states of the 1908 first, and are commonly mistaken for it.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Wind in the Willows a first edition?

A first edition of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Methuen & Co., London) is identified by: Original-language (English) first edition: Methuen & Co., London, 1908 — published 8 October 1908.

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. Original language is English, so no foreign-language "first English translation" applies.

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

No book-club edition is relevant to first-edition identification. Beware conflating the 1908 first with later reissues: the Methuen edition was reprinted many times (later impressions state additional printings and/or carry the printed price second-issue jacket). Distinct illustrated editions — Paul Bransom (Scribner, 1913, first illustrated), Wyndham Payne (Methuen, 1927), Ernest H. Shepard (Methuen, 1931), and Arthur Rackham (Limited Editions Club, New York, 1940) — are separate publications,

I have a first edition of The Wind in the Willows — 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.