First edition

The First edition is the first publication of a text in book form. The notion asserted itself in the nineteenth century with Romantic bibliophilia, when collectors began seeking out the first printings of Hugo, Musset or Balzac, and equipped itself with reference tools soon after: Georges Vicaire described the first editions of the nineteenth century in his Manuel de l'amateur de livres (1894-1920), Léopold Carteret those of the Romantics in Le Trésor du bibliophile (1924-1928), Hector Talvart and Joseph Place those of modern authors from 1928 onwards, and Marcel Clouzot gave a practical synthesis of the subject in his Guide du bibliophile français. For early printed books, one speaks rather of the first edition; its distinguishing points are set out in Brunet and in author bibliographies.

Identifying a First edition requires checking the copy against its reference description: the publisher's name, the date on the title page, the address, the presence or absence of an edition statement, the number of pages, characteristic typographical errors or cancels, the binding or wrappers, and, for the twentieth century, the printer's colophon and the justification of the print run. The value of a First edition lies in its genuine rarity, the condition of the copy, the preservation of the original wrappers, and whatever is added to it: a large-paper copy, an author's inscription, a contemporary binding or a signed binding. An ordinary First edition in poor condition is worth little; the same copy, on Japan paper, with an inscription to a close friend, becomes a piece of real significance.

The most common mistake is to take the words « édition originale » printed on the cover or half-title as a guarantee: many twentieth-century publishers reproduced them on later printings. False edition statements, « second thousand » printings set up in advance, and copies made up from two different printings are the bookseller-bibliographer's daily fare. The First edition is also often confused with the first illustrated edition, which is a distinct edition, and with the pré-originale, the first appearance in a periodical or serial form, which precedes it.