SteveBlack Wrote:Hi Cyber-Jack
All 1st editions of a book regardless of printing number will be a 1st edition as long as the size, shape and artwork is identical. If the artwork or publisher changes or if the book is revised or has a new foreword etc then this is a new edition. eg the Whispers version of The Tomb is a 1st edition, the Borderlands version is a 2nd edition.
Stephen King's original Gunslinger from Grant is a 1st edition (all three printings are 1st editions). The 2nd edition is the new revised version from Viking. Mind you, the TRUE 1st edition of the Gunslinger is the old F&SF monthlies but that complicates things!!
Steve
Steve -
While I won't outright disagree with you, I find this pretty contradictory. What makes the First Edition unique is the fact that it is the first printing. Once a book goes back to press, the new print run can not be referred to as a First Edition. How can you call a book that is printed 20 or so years later than the first run, a "First" edition?
In your example, the serialized parts of The Gunslinger that were in F&SF would be the first appearance of the story, not necessarily the First Edition, as that term generally applies to actual books. I picked up my copies of the F&SF issues with the Gunslinger in them for between $10 and $15 a piece. No way can I find a First Edition of the book for that price, not even at 10X that price.
I feel where things get dicey, is when multiple publishers are involved...Say when Cemetery Dance, Gauntlet, Grant or Borderlands Press does a limited edition, their copies will state "First Edition", then when the trade comes out from Random House or Forge, their copies will also state "First Edition". In these cases, the first to appear on the shelf (which should be the small press limited, but rarely is) would be the True First Edition. The same holds true for international editions, when the German version is released a week or a month before the US version, the German version is considered the True First World Edition.
When I get back home today, I will check in a few books on collecting that I have and see how they treat the printing history and such...
Thanks.