How to Identify a Adam and Charles Black First Edition

How to identify a first printing

• No 'First Edition' statement and no printer's number line: like nearly all British houses of its era, Adam & Charles Black did not print a 'First Edition' notice or a number line in its collectible literary firsts (the early Wodehouse school stories). Do not expect a stated edition or a line ending in 1 — the descending number line is a much later, largely American practice this house did not use in that period. Identify by the title-page date, first-issue ad/binding points, and (for Wodehouse) the standard McIlvaine points instead.
• Rely on the title-page year and a clean copyright verso: a first printing carries the year of publication on the title page (e.g. 1903 for 'A Prefect's Uncle', 1909 for 'Mike') with no later date and no printing/reprint notice on the verso. But the date alone is NOT sufficient — later issues can share the same title-page date, so the date must be corroborated by the title-specific ad and binding points below.
• Confirm the title-page imprint form and device: firsts of this period read 'London: Adam and Charles Black' (or 'A. & C. Black') at the foot of the title page, generally with the publisher's device. On some titles the imprint/device state is diagnostic — the 1904 'William Tell Told Again' first issue has title in red and black with the device in red and NO publisher's address on the title page.
• Check first-issue advertisement points, which are title-specific and bibliographically defined. 'A Prefect's Uncle' (1903) first issue: advertisement for 'The Pothunters' on the verso of the half-title, 1903 date on the title, and NO further advertisements (a later issue adds 8 pages of 'Beautiful Books for Boys and Girls' ads at the rear; a variant with 8 pages of terminal ads is unrecorded by McIlvaine). 'Mike. A Public School Story' (1909) first issue: NO advertisements and NO date on the title verso.
• Verify the first-state binding/cloth exactly as bibliographically described, since later issues appear in altered cloth. 'A Prefect's Uncle' first: pictorial RED cloth printed in blue, black and cream, spine titled gilt, with a frontispiece and 7 plates by R. Noel Pocock. 'Mike' first: publisher's GREEN cloth with a cricket scene in white, black and red to cover and spine, spine title gilt, half-title, frontispiece and 11 plates by T. M. R. Whitwell. Reprints/prize issues in different cloth or lettering are not the first issue even when the title-page date matches.
• Treat the 'Ltd' form and an added address as reprint flags: the firm later imprints read 'A. & C. Black Ltd' (e.g. the 1924 reprint of 'Psmith, Journalist' in Black's Novel Library, blue cloth with black lettering). An undated title page, a publisher's address added to the imprint, or the 'Ltd' form generally signals a later printing, not the first.
• Anchor any Wodehouse attribution to Eileen McIlvaine's 'P. G. Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist' — the trade standard, cited by dealers as e.g. McIlvaine A2a for 'A Prefect's Uncle' — supplemented by David A. Jasen's Wodehouse bibliography. For general British-house practice (no stated edition / no number line), Zempel & Verkler, 'First Editions: A Guide to Identification.'

Notable points & cautions

• School-prize and reprint traps: many A&C Black boys' school stories survive as later issues, prize bindings, or reprints. The presence/absence of the specific ad leaves and the exact first-state cloth — not the title-page date alone — decide first-issue status, so match the McIlvaine points precisely.
• The undated-reprint problem: A&C Black reprints frequently drop the title-page date and add the publisher's address. Absence of a date is a reprint signal here, not an 'early' one — do not assume 'no date = first.'
• Imprint drift over time: forms range from 'Adam and Charles Black' and 'A. & C. Black' (earlier) to 'A. & C. Black, Ltd.' (later, e.g. 1924 reprints). The 'Ltd.' form points to a later printing.
• This is a very long-running, high-volume house best known for non-literary output (Who's Who, the Encyclopaedia Britannica 7th–9th editions to 1903, and Black's colour-plate travel guides). The collector-driven firsts are chiefly the early P. G. Wodehouse titles (1902–1915), which is where rigorous point-checking matters most; most other Black output is not point-sensitive in the same way.

Imprints

First editions also appear under: A. & C. Black, A & C Black, Adam & Charles Black, Adam and Charles Black, A. and C. Black, A. & C. Black, Ltd.. Each generally follows the house convention above.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my Adam and Charles Black book is a first edition?

Check the copyright page. No 'First Edition' statement and no printer's number line: like nearly all British houses of its era, Adam & Charles Black did not print a 'First Edition' notice or a number line in its collectible literary firsts (the early Wodehouse school stories). Do not expect a stated edition or a line ending in 1 — the descending number line is a much later, largely American practice this house did not use in that period. Identify by the title-page date, first-issue ad/binding points, and (for Wodehouse) the standard McIlvaine points instead. Rely on the title-page year and a clean copyright verso: a first printing carries the year of publication on the title page (e.g. 1903 for 'A Prefect's Uncle', 1909 for 'Mike') with no later date and no printing/reprint notice on the verso. But the date alone is NOT sufficient — later issues can share the same title-page date, so the date must be corroborated by the title-specific ad and binding points below.

Does Adam and Charles Black use a number line?

Rely on the title-page year and a clean copyright verso: a first printing carries the year of publication on the title page (e.g. 1903 for 'A Prefect's Uncle', 1909 for 'Mike') with no later date and no printing/reprint notice on the verso. But the date alone is NOT sufficient — later issues can share the same title-page date, so the date must be corroborated by the title-specific ad and binding points below.

Is a book-club edition a Adam and Charles Black first edition?

No. Book-club editions reprint the text but are not the true first edition. School-prize and reprint traps: many A&C Black boys' school stories survive as later issues, prize bindings, or reprints. The presence/absence of the specific ad leaves and the exact first-state cloth — not the title-page date alone — decide first-issue status, so match the McIlvaine points precisely.

What era does this cover?

This covers Adam and Charles Black (founded 1807 (Edinburgh); collectible literary firsts c.1902–1915 (the Wodehouse titles)). Conventions changed over time, so confirm the era of your copy.