Is My 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). The census claim that Dalkey Archive 2005 is the first English is WRONG: 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.

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. A Dalkey uncorrected

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 — 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.