Is My Ways of Seeing a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is a paperback original: BBC and Penguin Books, Harmondsworth/London, 1972, Crown 8vo (approx
• 195 x 129 mm), 170 pp. with numerous illustrations, issued in off-white stiff card wrappers printed in black in the influential layout designed by Richard Hollis (text frequently set to run directly into the images)
• No hardcover was issued in 1972; the true first shows no additional reprint line, whereas later Penguin impressions add a reprint statement and revised wrapper pricing
• Identify by the 1972 date, the off-white Hollis card wrappers, and the absence of any later-printing line

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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 paperback original (Penguin/BBC, 1972) holds precedence and is the true first. The first hardcover and first US edition is The Viking Press, New York, 1973 (quarter beige cloth, priced jacket) — a separately collected 'first thus'; both are collected, but the 1972 Penguin wrappers are the true first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Penguin printings and the reset 1990 edition (ISBN 0-14-013515-2) are reprints; the Viking 1973 hardcover is the US first-thus rather than a book-club edition. No common BCE is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Ways of Seeing a first edition?

A first edition of Ways of Seeing by John Berger (British Broadcasting Corporation & Penguin Books) is identified by: The true first is a paperback original: BBC and Penguin Books, Harmondsworth/London, 1972, Crown 8vo (approx.

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 paperback original (Penguin/BBC, 1972) holds precedence and is the true first.

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

Later Penguin printings and the reset 1990 edition (ISBN 0-14-013515-2) are reprints; the Viking 1973 hardcover is the US first-thus rather than a book-club edition. No common BCE is documented.

I have a first edition of Ways of Seeing — 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.