Points and Pitfalls

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   One must examine the most minute details like the drab paper-labeled spine of a boarded book, or the gilded magnificence of a fine-ribbed cloth, or the muted splendor of contemporary calf, each in its own way radiating dates and time-scales, is enough to set the trained bibliophile on the scent by evaluating the chances of the text inside matching the promise of the binding. If it does; and the title-page confirms in finer detail the assessment you made when inspecting the exterior appearance of the volume, you can be much closer. If the date on the title-page is correct as being the year to which the book was dated, you will need to concentrate on collating the leaves, the plates -- if plates there should be -- and the rear-guard of the tipped-in advertisements that perhaps constitute an issue point and thus alter the accepted market value of the book. These are not facts because advertisements can be at the front of the volume as well at the end; the plates may be printed on the text-paper; half-titles and other prelims may not be called for that the work may be of such absolute rarity.

    Any bibliophile must be able not only to recognize almost immediately, in catalogues, websites and on the shelves, the editions you are seeking for your library, but also to access their approximate market vale. The condition of the book is one of the most important factor at arriving at your financial gains, both binding and text.

    A most valuable asset to a bibliophile is your own knowledge of literature derived from reading the works you now wish to acquire in the form of first or other important editions. You will need to use the bibliographical tools that past and present collectors and literary historians have prepared for you, this knowledge enables you to seek out titles that you know are worthwhile, rather rely on others.

    A working acquaintance with the binding styles of the period, and some knowledge of the social and literary cultures of the age in which the books that attract your interest were written, are both of importance. After the 18th century, the external appearance of a book can reveal a great deal about what it will look inside. This rule applies to some extent to books of any age, but with the appearance of publishers' binding styles it takes on a real significance. By studying the dates of the works illustrated in this volume, and applying that knowledge to the bindings shown, you will realize how quickly binding styles changed, thus enabling the experienced bibliophile to approximately date a title page without having to open a book. The actual date at which any book first appeared can only be learned by bibliographical research, and this means turning to the general and specialized bibliographies. In the case of the lesser known author, one may need to visit a reference library to have copies of their works. Yes it's time consuming but what else compels you. So go check out The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (1969), The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature (1967), Century Readings in English Literature (1968), Collected Books The Guide to Values 2000 by Allen and Patricia Ahearn and all the others. This most excellent piece of literary scholarship will prove invaluable, giving first edition dates and those other important or significant editions, and also an indication of the format in which the works were originally issued. This gives the collector such information as the number of volumes in which any particular work first appeared, or details as to part issues, but of course in a work of so wide a scope no collations can be given. For full descriptions of internal and external make-up the specialist bibliographies must be consulted. These cover much narrower fiels, many being limited to individual authors, or to some particular aspect of literature, science or the arts. No matter where your interst lies, in drama, poetry, modern first editions, novels, children's books, natural history, Africana, detective fiction, the circus, the ballet, there are bibliographies to match the subject. Each with a strictly limited appeal they are sometimes expensive to purchase, many extremely so, especially if they have been out of print for many years. But the larger reference libraries have most bibliographies on their shelves, although there are occasions when a visit to one of the national libraries or university libraries may be necessary.

    It is essential that you learn the first edition dates of the author, or group of works, that you aim to collect. These dates you discover by consulting bibliographies, biographies, encyclopedias, and other reference works. Personal research will have to be undertaken if the writer you collect has not excited the attention of literary historians and bibliographers. The writer's published works usually carry advertisements of his previously issued books, and once you have discovered his or her publisher you have a most valuable lead. 

    If you are satisfied that the work you are examining was a first issued in, say, 1850, and the bibliography you consulted states that it was so dated, then any other printed date of issue later than 1850 appearing in the volume shows it to be of a later edition than the first. Should our supposed book have the date '1867' on the title-page, on the verso thereof, in the colophon at the end, or elsewhere, as an indication of its date of issue, then it obviously cannot be a first edition if the bibliographical information that gave you the date of 1850 is correct. This is all very elementary and perhaps self-evident; but the number of times experienced collectors are consulted about books that the hopeful owners believe to be 'firsts' because the words 'second edition or nineteenth edition' do not appear on their title-pages, while a date of some kind does appear, make me stress the obvious.

    The fact that a work was issued in our supposed year of 1850 does not necessarily mean that it will be so dated. If the date in the work of reference consulted is given in parentheses (1850), this bibliographical devise indicates that it was issued without a date on its title-page. Most first editions do bear a date; but it is equally true to say that many did not. Certain publishers have their own house rules, dating the first issue but not the reprints from the same type setting. Others, in the past, did not bother to date even the first issue of a work.

    The preliminary leaves are usually the most important factors in deciding to which edition a work belongs. To read the word's 'Preface to the First edition' consigns the volume to a later edition,  for in the first edition the word 'Preface' is sufficient. Some publishers and authors, especially in the 19th century, reprinted the prefaces that had originally appeared in as many as four previous editions. Other clues are found on the title-pages. The words 'Author's edition', 'First published edition', 'Authorized edition', 'First illustrated edition' (or simply illustrated edition), 'First single-volume edition', or Octavo edition', all strongly indicate that a previous edition, or edition, have already appeared. If the plates in the book are dated, and this date precedes (possibly by several years) the date on the title-page, then one must view the volume with suspicion. A Dublin, or foreign, imprint on the title-page of a book that one would expect to appear say first in England, usually means that the book is not a first edition: but not always, for one can think of a string of titles where the reverse is true and the foreign imprint in fact denotes the first edition. the longer you collect the greater the store of miscellaneous facts and figures you have to draw on. The longer you collect the fewer mistakes you make.

    In the United sates of America a distinguishing mark of the first edition is date of registration, usually found on the verso of that title-page. If the date on the front of that title-page is, say, 1836, then the legend of entry must carry the same date. In this imagined case it would read in the form of: 'Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836'. If the date given here should be earlier than the title-page, then the volume is almost certainly not of the first American edition; and, if the book was first published in the USA this means it cannot be a first edition.
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