Is My Valdez Is Coming a First Edition?

The points of issue

• CENSUS CLAIM REFUTED. A hardcover first does exist and it precedes: Robert Hale, London, 1969, cloth in a pictorial dust jacket, catalogued as the first edition by James M. Pickard (ABA/ILAB) and by Rooke Books (PBFA), the latter stating explicitly that "This first edition, published in the UK, precedes the first US edition, which was released in 1970." The Hale printing is reported to have been small and directed largely at the UK library market, and surviving copies frequently carry library stamps (the Rooke copy bears a Leicestershire County Library stamp to the title-page verso); jackets are scarce enough that facsimile wrappers are supplied, so the wrapper should be checked
• The US edition — Fawcett/Gold Medal, Greenwich, October 1970 — is a paperback original with cover art by Frank McCarthy, identified by the Gold Medal catalogue number R2328 on the wrapper and the original printed cover price, with no printing statement

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. 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 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?

True first: Robert Hale, London, 1969 (hardcover). First US: Fawcett/Gold Medal, Greenwich, October 1970 (paperback original, R2328) — a paperback original in the US, which is the point the census note was reaching for, but it is the first American edition, not the true first. Both are collected: the Hale as the true first, the Gold Medal as the first US and the form in which American readers met the book. Accounts of the Gold Medal printing tells conflict — one widely cited collector account offers both the printed cover price and the presence of stills from the 1971 Burt Lancaster film as first-printing evidence, but a 1970 first printing cannot carry stills from a 1971 film, so that account is unreliable on this point; rely on the R2328 number and the absence of any later-printing notice.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue documented for the Hale. For the US paperback, the traps are later Gold Medal printings and film tie-in issues keyed to the 1971 Edwin Sherin / Burt Lancaster adaptation; these carry a later printed cover price and, where present, film imagery not possible on a pre-film 1970 first printing. Later reprint paperbacks (e.g. Bantam) are plainly distinguished by imprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Valdez Is Coming a first edition?

A first edition of Valdez Is Coming by Elmore Leonard (Robert Hale) is identified by: A hardcover first does exist and it precedes: Robert Hale, London, 1969, cloth in a pictorial dust jacket, catalogued as the first edition by James M.

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. True first: Robert Hale, London, 1969 (hardcover).

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

No book-club issue documented for the Hale. For the US paperback, the traps are later Gold Medal printings and film tie-in issues keyed to the 1971 Edwin Sherin / Burt Lancaster adaptation; these carry a later printed cover price and, where present, film imagery not possible on a pre-film 1970 first printing. Later reprint paperbacks (e.g. Bantam) are plainly distinguished by imprint.

I have a first edition of Valdez Is Coming — 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.