Is My The Worst Journey in the World a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Constable & Co., London, 1922, in two octavo volumes, full title "The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-1913." The binding is the point that matters
• The rare first issue is in half white cloth (buckram) over grey / blue-grey paper-covered boards with a printed spine label: Cherry-Garrard insisted on the white "Polar" half-binding because he wanted the book to look as handsome and as polar as possible, relatively few copies of the first edition were actually bound up that way, it soiled almost immediately with normal handling, and the book was quickly reissued in plain durable blue cloth, which is the state usually encountered on the market
• Collation must be complete: approximately sixty plates across the two volumes, six of them in colour and ten of them folding panoramas, plus five maps of which four fold
• Missing panoramas and folding maps are the commonest defect, and a rebound or recased copy destroys the binding evidence on which the issue turns

How Constable & Company Ltd marked a first edition

• Late 1890s to about 1920 (the modern London Archibald Constable & Co.): firsts typically carry the date on the title page with no later-printing notice; subsequent printings remove the title-page date or add an impressio…
• About 1920 to about 1960: 'First published (year)' on the copyright page; a first impression lists no reprints, while later printings add dated reprint lines.

Full Constable & Company Ltd 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 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 true first: Constable, London, 1922, the polar high spot and the edition to collect. The first American edition, George H. Doran Company, New York, 1922, appeared in the same year and was printed in the UK from the same sheets, issued in two volumes in linen-spined grey papered boards with a spine label; critically, the Doran issue was published WITHOUT the ten panoramic plates, which is both the practical UK/US test and the reason the Constable issue is preferred. Both are catalogued targets, but precedence rests unambiguously with Constable.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1922 Constable or Doran issues in the sources consulted. The reprint field is deep (Penguin Classics, Vintage/Random House, Carroll & Graf, the Folio Society and various later Constable printings) and none is a first. The live trap is subtler than date: blue-cloth copies are frequently offered simply as "first edition," which is accurate as to edition but describes the later binding issue. The discrimination that counts is white half-binding versus blue cloth, not 1922 versus later.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Worst Journey in the World a first edition?

A first edition of The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Constable & Company Ltd) is identified by: Constable & Co., London, 1922, in two octavo volumes, full title "The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-1913." The binding is the point that matters.

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 true first: Constable, London, 1922, the polar high spot and the edition to collect.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1922 Constable or Doran issues in the sources consulted. The reprint field is deep (Penguin Classics, Vintage/Random House, Carroll & Graf, the Folio Society and various later Constable printings) and none is a first. The live trap is subtler than date: blue-cloth copies are frequently offered simply as "first edition," which is accurate as to edition but describes the later binding issue. The discrimination that counts is white half-binding versus blue c

I have a first edition of The Worst Journey in the World — 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.