1st edition of a book?

Question

I have a hardback book written by John Simpson and titled "The Wars Against Saddam" it was published by Pan Macmillian in 2003 How can I tell if my copy is a 1st edition

Answer 1

there should be a page with all the publishing information, author copyright etc. It's usually on the other side of the title page.
Find a line of numbers on the page, usually fairly near the bottom, but not always. This is not the ISBN, it's spaced out like 1 3 5 8 10
and if there is a 1 in the line, then it is a 1st edition.

You should also check when the book was 1st published and when your copy was published. Which is also on that page.

Answer 2

The first two answers are excellent. I would like to add that hard backed books printed in the last ten years are nearly all first editions. People have changed their reading habits and prefer to handle paper backs as they are easier to take on a train etc. Therefore the first printing is a relatively small number of hard backs and is intended to make a goodish profit and the second printing is the big volume. There would seldom be a need for a reprint of the hardback version.

Answer 3

It should have the numbers 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the inside cover...

Answer 4

All these answers are excellent, but I would beg to differ on the idea that most HBs are 1st editions. Most successful books reprint several times in HB (in some cases reprinting before the book has ever been published).

It's also worth remembering that very few true 1st editions are worth lots of money. I've been collecting them for years now, and not many have increased so much in value.

Answer 5

The front of the book will have a page giving the printing history saying when the book was first published and what edition your copy is. This page is usually on the left of the title page.

Answer 6

Usually books carry an isbn number. Such as 2345678 1 Or whatever. If you see such numbers, look for the number at the far right hand side, as this tells you which edition the book is.

Sometimes if it is an older book, they don'thave this number system, but they usually say what edition the book is in, or if there is nothing there, it will be 1st edition.

Answer 7

Answers above are accurate.
It is untrue that all 1st editions will automatically be worth loads of money though. It really depends on what book it is and how rare/in demand a first edition is...