Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: first editions

About Books? First things First!

Those of us interested in books can obsess over strange things. First Editions. Signed copies. Leather bindings. Sometimes we even like a good story between the book covers.

A First Printing copy might cause a book-lover to get lightheaded. There is a difference between a First Edition and a First Printing, after all.

But sometimes it can get a little confusing.

aTreeLeaf

Here is something to remember. A first printing of a book will always be a First Edition, but a First Edition isn’t always the first printing. Actually, MOST books only have a First Edition. That means it was never changed from the original. Same words, same cover, same number of pages. If you buy a brand-new hardback copy of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, it will be a first edition.

That’s because there isn’t a second edition. There IS a “special illustrated edition.” But no second. It is still the same book, same edition – in a later printing.

J.R.R Tolkien wrote his Lord of the Rings trilogy in the mid-fifties, but made changes to the texts that were published by Houghton Mifflin in 1965 and released as the Second Edition. Most books never have a second edition, but may have numerous reprintings.

When an author is relatively unknown, the publisher is less likely to take a risk by printing a large number of copies on the first run. (Harper Lee and her new novel Go Set a Watchman, on the other hand, is said to have had some two-million copies printed at the time of the first offering.) It’s easy to find a First Edition copy of The Da Vince Code since it has been reprinted over a hundred times, but not so easy to find one from the First Printing order.

I used to own a First Printing set of the Second Edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. (Sounds a little confusing, though, doesn’t it?) It was a somewhat expensive trio of books, but nothing like a First Printing of the First Edition set. But I do have a First Printing of a J.R.R. Tolkien book. A little lesser-known title.

They haven’t made an action movie of this one yet. In fact, Tree and Leaf – it is safe to say – will not end up on any movie screen. But I’m happy to have a First American Edition copy, which is another variation on the whole “first” idea, since Tolkien was a British author and his “first” editions were published in the UK. This one, published for the American market, is labeled as such on the copyright page with the “first printing” notice.

For me, a First Printing is the true First Edition copy. Some booksellers argue that a bound galley proof copy constitutes a First, but by my reckoning a “proof” copy is one that is subject to change or edits by the proofreaders and cannot be considered a finished copy of the book.

Having that First Printing is special in the case of long-dead authors – at least, to me – in that the book could have been in the hands of the author since it was printed in his lifetime. It’s crazy, I know, but I like the idea that my First Edition copy of Charles Dicken’s Bleak House could have been for sale originally in the bookstore where Mr Dickens liked to drop in to visit. Could have happened!

Our copy of Mr Tolkien’s Tree and Leaf was printed for the American market, but the author was still living when it was first available. For me, that is significant.

Even this little known book is pricey as a First, but ours is a little more affordable since it once sat on a public library shelf. Still has the little card envelope in the back. (Some of you younger folks may not have ever seen those little hand-stamped “due date” cards in the back of a book… replaced in most libraries these days by a bar-code tag.) An “ex-library” copy is considered less desirable by deep-pocketed collectors.

But for some of us, just having a copy at all in “First Edition” causes the book-lover’s grin that we try to keep hidden when handling books in public.

If you’re curious about First Editions and how to identify them, I’d be happy to share a spotter’s tip or two.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 S. Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

Following up the Tea-Off…

I have Jorge to thank for the accompanying image. He courageously crossed the river of folks that streamed through the store for most of Thursday evening, people out for the Broken Arrow Main Street Tea-Off. I don’t know the history of the naming of the event. Maybe someone was serving tea. I get the tee-off reference, getting things started for the holiday season.

In the past, I’ve been critical of the idea of putting up decorations before Thanksgiving has even arrived, but here I am, looking across at a lighted Christmas tree. In the front window are garlands and lights. Halloween barely gone.

Down the street, in all the years I kept shop at the Oak Crest Center, there was little activity with the Tea-Off. The trolley came rolling around, but no one seemed to get out of it to investigate the stores. I imagine it was partly due to the fact that I was the only shopkeeper still open after seven. The carpet and flooring business stuck it out with me until she shut down her operation. After that year, I just locked the door at my regular closing time.

This year, I was advised to be ready.

Toward that end, I plated up about 100 cookies, decided against the hot chocolate, and waited. It was about ten minutes between the opening of the first package and watching the first cookie being consumed – well before the six o’clock scheduled start time. Needless to say, the cookie stash did not last long.

The lines, however, were extremely long.

Jorge’s photo doesn’t show the true number of guests milling around and making their way down the aisles. It was what comedian Robin Williams would have described as the “human carwash.” In fact, if he had taken the picture earlier, you’d have seen nothing but the back of someone’s shirt. He’s not as tall as the photographer needed to be to catch the setting in pictures.

Looking back on it, I should have anticipated a couple of things. Moving the many chairs out of the way, so people could wind their way through the aisles, for one. Perhaps I should have allowed myself a later start in the morning. Next year I hope to remember what a long day it turned out to be – but I’m not complaining! As it turned out, I sold some books (I didn’t really expect to during the open house event), and just a few moments ago, a guest from last night returned to buy a set of children’s books that she saw as she walked through. (She didn’t want to buy them in front of her daughter since she intends them as a gift.)

Things are a bit different down at this end of Main Street, and with the plans in the works for the pedestrian friendly changes and my own long-range plans involving the bistro, I have a great feeling about the future.

If you haven’t been to the Rose District or McHuston Booksellers in a while, I hope you’ll come round soon!

By the way, that isn’t my round brown head in the picture. I’m strategically placed behind the countertop display that features a head-sized Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookie…

Treasure in them thar boxes!

You may have heard that the traveling Antiques Roadshow program on PBS discovered its most valuable treasure to date during its stop in Tulsa. Surprising, to most everybody, was the collection of Chinese-carved rhinoceros horn cups valued at one to one-point-five million dollars.

As appraiser Lark Mason noted, “You never know what is going to turn up.”

How true that is.

While not on the scale of the horn-cups in value, a rarely seen book is currently resting in the inventory at McHuston Booksellers.

The volume has had a bit of abuse in its lifetime, but copies of the 1932 first edition of “The Store” by author T. S. Stribling are amazingly hard to come by. It is true that among the millions of books published since Gutenberg perfected his printing machine, there are rarer titles. Some are so scarce that they have been completely lost to history, with not a single copy remaining.

The difference is, almost all of those books came and went without much discussion and a great many found their final resting spot in a public landfill.

Mr. Stribling won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 for his work, and given that there are collectors who specialize in first edition copies of prize-winners, it makes this book a minor treasure.

For the person trying to put together a set of Pulitzer Winners who is missing this title, there are but a handful offered for sale anywhere.

Lo and Behold!

One of them is in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

It is a bit fragile these days, but still represents a nice find.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the value… it is priced under a thousand – which is the going rate for another listed online, a book in better shape but not a true first edition.

You just never know what will turn up.