Is My Up from Slavery: An Autobiography a First Edition?

The points of issue

• New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901
• The first edition is an octavo of x, 330 pp., bound in the publisher's ribbed maroon (burgundy) cloth stamped in gilt, with a gilt top edge, and carries a tipped-in photogravure frontispiece portrait of Washington with facsimile signature facing the title page
• The copyright page reads "Copyright, 1900, 1901, by Booker T. Washington" — the double date reflects the book's prior serial appearance in The Outlook, which Washington acknowledges in his own preface
• There is no printing statement or number line; the 1901 Doubleday, Page New York imprint, the collation, the cloth and the tipped-in frontispiece are what carry the identification
• Two title-page states are recorded: one with the line "Author of 'The Future of the American Negro'" beneath Washington's name, and one without it
• The state lacking that line is the scarcer in the trade and is sometimes called the "first state," but Bauman Rare Books states plainly that no priority has been established — treat the two states as unranked, not as first and second issue, and do not claim precedence for either

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 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?

US precedence; the census claim of Doubleday, Page (New York), 1901 is correct. The 1901 Doubleday, Page issue is the true first book edition — the text had already run serially in The Outlook, so the book is the first appearance in book form rather than the first appearance of the text. Do not confuse it with Washington's earlier and separate autobiography, The Story of My Life and Work (J. L. Nichols, 1900), a subscription-published book with a different text. No competing first-edition claim from another country is asserted here: I could not corroborate a named 1901 London edition against two independent authorities, so none is stated.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1901 Doubleday, Page edition in the sources consulted. Later Doubleday, Page and Doubleday, Doran printings reset or reissue the text; note that Doubleday imprints reading "Garden City, New York" reflect the firm's later address and therefore postdate the 1901 New York first. The many modern "first thus" reprints — Norton Critical, Dover Thrift, Penguin, Library of America — carry their own imprints and are not the 1901 edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Up from Slavery: An Autobiography a first edition?

A first edition of Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington (Doubleday, Page & Company) is identified by: New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901.

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). US precedence; the census claim of Doubleday, Page (New York), 1901 is correct.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1901 Doubleday, Page edition in the sources consulted. Later Doubleday, Page and Doubleday, Doran printings reset or reissue the text; note that Doubleday imprints reading "Garden City, New York" reflect the firm's later address and therefore postdate the 1901 New York first. The many modern "first thus" reprints — Norton Critical, Dover Thrift, Penguin, Library of America — carry their own imprints and are not the 1901 edition.

I have a first edition of Up from Slavery: An Autobiography — 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.