Is My Copy of Voices from Chernobyl a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The Russian text first appeared in the journal Druzhba Narodov in 1997 and was issued as a book the same year: Chernobylskaya molitva (Чернобыльская молитва), Ostozhye, Moscow, 1997, 224 pages, ISBN 5-86095-088-8 — the Ostozhye imprint and that ISBN carry the identification
• The first edition in English is Voices from Chernobyl: Chronicle of the Future, Aurum Press, London, 1999, translated by Antonina W. Bouis, hardcover of 288 pages in dust jacket, ISBN 1-85410-649-X. No number line or printing statement is documented for the Aurum issue in the sources consulted, so identification rests on the Aurum imprint, the 1999 first-publication line on the copyright page with no later-printing statement, and the original ISBN; the jacket should be present and unclipped with the price at the flap

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 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?

Russian is the true first (Ostozhye, Moscow, 1997). Dalkey Archive 2005 is not the first English: Aurum Press, London, 1999 (Bouis) precedes it by six years, so the UK, not the US, holds the first in English. The Dalkey Archive Press edition of 2005 — Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, a new translation by Keith Gessen, ISBN 1-56478-401-0, hardcover in jacket — is a first thus, not a first in English; it is nonetheless the widely collected American book (National Book Critics Circle Award for general non-fiction, 2005) and the copy most associated with the 2015 Nobel. Both the Aurum 1999 and the Dalkey 2005 are collected, and dealers frequently mis-describe the Dalkey as 'First English Edition, First Printing'.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. Reprint and first-thus tells: Picador, New York, 2006 paperback (ISBN 0-312-42584-8) reprints the Gessen text; Penguin Modern Classics, London, 2016 is a third English translation (Anna Gunin and Arch Tait) retitled Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future; a Deep Vellum reissue of the Dalkey text also circulates. Alexievich revised the Russian text in 2013, so post-2013 Russian printings are a different text from the 1997 Ostozhye first. A Dalkey uncorrected proof in wrappers is recorded and is not the first edition.P-043074

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Voices from Chernobyl a first edition?

A first edition of Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich (Ostozhye, Moscow) is identified by: The Russian text first appeared in the journal Druzhba Narodov in 1997 and was issued as a book the same year: Chernobylskaya molitva (Чернобыльская молитва), Ostozhye, Moscow, 1997, 224 pages, ISBN 5-86095-088-8 — the Ostozhye imprint and that ISBN carry the identification.

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). Russian is the true first (Ostozhye, Moscow, 1997).

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

No book-club issue is documented. Reprint and first-thus tells: Picador, New York, 2006 paperback (ISBN 0-312-42584-8) reprints the Gessen text; Penguin Modern Classics, London, 2016 is a third English translation (Anna Gunin and Arch Tait) retitled Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future; a Deep Vellum reissue of the Dalkey text also circulates. Alexievich revised the Russian text in 2013, so post-2013 Russian printings are a different text from the 1997 Ostozhye first.

I have a first edition of Voices from Chernobyl — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.