First edition

“ The second edition of the Golden Legend came out shortly after this, that is about 1488, and is a difficult book to explain typographically. About 200 leaves are of the first edition, while the beginning, a small piece of the middle, and the end are of the second. Now it is curious that no copy in existence seems to be correctly made up with the full number of second edition leaves, [Pg 19] and the most probable explanation seems to be that part of the stock happening to get damaged, a reprint was made to complete what was left, and that sheets were picked indiscriminately. ”

“ I am uncertain whether or not the earliest copies of this novel contained in any one of the three volumes a publishers' catalogue. The first editions I have seen show a 16 pp. catalogue at the end of Vol. III., but dated November, 1860, so that they 141belong clearly to a subsequent issue. The Woman in White is a case over which the buyer should take great care. A so-called “New Edition” was issued in the year of publication and with binding identical to that of the first edition, for which reason only the right advertisement matter can show that a copy is untampered with. ”

“ Twelve years ago the first edition of this booklet appeared—on June 26, 1950. Five thousand copies sold in four months, and a second edition appeared before the end of the year. Since that time the editions have consisted of ten thousand copies each. ”

“ The first edition shows pages of types only; the next edition has types and blocks, but the types are like those of the first; then comes a third edition in the same types, but with two pages of types differing somewhat as to body and face; lastly an edition entirely in the old types, in a worn condition. Each edition has more or less connection with the others. [6]
English. ”

“ Fairfax's Tasso.—In my copy of the second edition, 1624, the first stanza of the first book is given precisely as in Mr. Knight's reprint. But in the very beautiful edition published by Bensley, 1817, and edited by Mr. Singer, that stanza which T. N. terms an "elegant variation," introduces the canto. The editor's preface states that the first edition, 1600, had been followed in that re-impression, "admitting some few corrections of errors, and emendations of orthography, from the second, I printed in 1624." ”

“ The smaller your first edition, the sooner you are likely to go into a second, and, as you know, it is a great advantage for a book to go into a second edition quickly, if only for advertising purposes. ”

“ There is but one way of obtaining a perfect index to the condition of the national library at a given time: the catalogue must be reprinted along with the numerous accessions which have been accumulating while the first edition has been going through the press—a national undertaking which will commend itself to men of letters more readily than to ministers of finance. ”

“ Seeing lately a copy of my play of "Francis the First," with (to my infinite astonishment) "tenth edition" upon it, I said to a friend, "I suppose this was a bit of bookseller's puffery; or did each edition consist of three copies?" He replied, "Oh, no, I think not; you have forgotten the furor there was about you when this came out." At twenty I believed it all; at sixty-eight I find it difficult to believe any of it. ”

“ Under primary works, separate publications—classified by genre, form, or medium—appear first (with later editions and translations listed under the first edition) , followed by manuscripts (by collection, with a description of contents) , then other publications (by type or form) . ”

“ The magazine rights were sold to the Curtis Publishing Company. The money thus obtained has been expended in producing this edition of one thousand copies—the first edition of one of the last tales of America’s well-loved story-teller. ”

“ Among reviewers of books there is a convention by which the matter of a first edition—whether a single story or a collection of stories—which has been reproduced from a magazine or magazines, is treated as if it were a novelty. It is a sound and benevolent convention, because the stuff of magazines only receives at best a very sketchy notice. Miss May Sinclair, however, is apparently prepared ”

“ Now and again it is asserted that the manuscript for the first edition was taken to London without her knowledge and printed in the same way, but there is hardly the slightest ground for such conclusion, while the elaborate dedication and the many friendly tributes included, indicate the fullest knowledge and preparation. All those whose opinion she most valued are represented in the opening pages of the volume. ”

“ Sonnenschein's The Best Books, already in a second and vastly improved edition, is a comparatively recent publication, in which, under subjects arranged systematically, are placed [10] the best current books, whether ancient or modern, on each subject, with the prices, sizes, publisher's name and dates of the first and last editions of each. There are about 50,000 works included, and they together give a very good idea of all the material in the various departments of research which the specialist is likely to have occasion to read or refer to. ”

“ A preface to the first edition of “Jane Eyre” being unnecessary, I gave none: this second edition demands a few words both of acknowledgment and miscellaneous remark. ”

“ As the existence of the first edition has been, and still is, denied, it being frequently confounded with Barclay's book, we transcribe the following description of the only known copy from Van Praet's "Catalogue des livres imprimés sur vélin de la Bibliotheque du Roi."
The Shyppe of Fooles, translated out of frenche, by Henry Watson. London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1509, petit in—4.
Edition en lettres de forme, sans chiffres ni réclames, avec signatures, figures et initiales en bois; à longues lignes, au nombre de 32 sur les pages entierès; cont. 169 f.; les 7 premiers renferment 1. ”

“ To republish a book after a lapse of thirty-six years can only be excused by the fact that it has long been out of print and that it is still asked for. When a new edition was proposed to me. my first intention was to issue the book as it stood, with no more change than the correction of obvious mis takes. ”

“ Three or four volumes of the manuscript catalogue having been selected to be combined in a volume of print, they undergo in the first place a literary revision. Queries respecting headings, authorship, and date are raised and settled, mistranscriptions and wrong punctuation corrected, and the catalogue is weeded of its practically duplicate entries by cutting these down to the mere phrase "another edition; another copy," as the case may require. A second and more troublesome revision then becomes necessary, for the order of the entries frequently admits of great improvement. ”

“ Regarding the third state, little need be said. One might be justified in reporting it as a second printing; but since there is nothing in the book to indicate a complete reprinting, it seemed better to regard it as one form of the first edition, as I have done. ”

“ The Uniform Library will bring out a cheap edition for the people, first, of all his hitherto published works, to which will gradually be added his unpublished works as fast as they can be produced, that the British Public may be made familiar with all that he has written. ”

“ A new period began in 1831, when for the first time a text was constructed directly from the ancient documents without the intervention of any printed edition, and when the first systematic attempt was made to substitute scientific method for arbitrary choice in the discrimination of various readings. ”

“ The new Copyright Edition will contain four additional Volumes, now first published, which will complete the work. It will be issued in Twenty-four Monthly Volumes, price 1s. each, sewed in elegant wrapper, commencing March 1st, 1869. But at the same time the entire work will be kept on sale, so that all who desire to possess it—either complete, or any separate volume thereof—can be supplied at once. Each volume is complete in itself, forming an independent collection of stories. The work may also be had in Twelve Double Volumes, handsomely bound in cloth, price 3s. ”

“ It is identical to the American issue except for an imprint on the verso of the title leaf identifying it as a "New Edition", and the addition of a catalogue. Published in August 1888, the first and only printing being of 1000 copies. ”

“ You perceive your own unhappiness in not being able to attend the press. I cannot but importune you to revise the whole, to throw the additions and corrections into their proper places, to desire all your friends and correspondents to suggest any amendments, or any new matter; in order to publish a new correct edition that will be a classic in our history, &c.—If the booksellers object against a second edition till the full disposal of the first, I hope we may buy them off with subscription for a new impression ”

“ Scarcely any other book of equal importance, perhaps, stands so much in need of preliminary explanations as this great work of the celebrated writer whose name it bears. And it most often, we should think, have been a matter of just surprise to the readers of this history, that, in the editions hitherto published, the errors in the first and second volumes have been reprinted, which the author himself noticed at the end of the third volume. In the present edition the text will be found corrected as it should be, and many explanatory notes added throughout the work. ”

“ MISS FERRIER'S Novels have, since their first appearance, suffered curtailment in all subsequent Editions. The present Edition is the first reprint from the original Editions, and contains the whole of the omissions in other reprints. It is, therefore, the only perfect Edition of these Novels. ”

“ The unprecedented success that has attended the sale of the first editions, is proof that our hope to supply a long-felt want has been fully realized, and it is with entire confidence in its merits that we present this work to the public. ”

“ The collecting of first editions is, in its present form, a diversion of recent growth. Fifty years ago amateurs of books were few in number and, necessarily, rich in gold, for only the great books of past literature were regarded as fit material for collection, and great books, though cheaper then than now, were never to be had for love. ”

“ N.B.—The Authors and Publisher reserve the right of reprinting any book in this list if a new edition is called for, except in cases where a stipulation has been made to the contrary, and of printing a separate edition of any of the books for America irrespective of the numbers to which the English editions are limited. ”

“ No library, either public or private, can be complete without having in it a complete sett of the works of this, the greatest of all living authors. Every family should possess a sett of one of the editions. The cheap edition is complete in Twelve Volumes, paper cover ”

“ Perhaps you have observed that my "Ivanhoe" is of a different edition from the others. The first copy was left in the grass by the side of a stream, fell into the water, and was eventually picked up three days later, swollen and decomposed, upon a mud-bank. ”

“ Complete, with General Index by H. B. Wheatley, in Fourteen Volumes. Crown 8vo, Cloth, price 50s. Or in separate Volumes price 3s. 6d. each. “Professor Masson's edition is the model of what an edition should be.”—Athenæum. ”

“ Or, rather, should it not be read in an old edition?
Good editions of good books, though they may often be expensive, can not be too highly commended. One can turn to a page in inviting letterpress so much easier than to a page of an unattractive volume. The fine shades of meaning stand out more clearly, and the thought is revealed more intelligibly when clothed in fitting typographical garb. Often it becomes a positive labor to follow many a pleasing author in the small or worn types and poor paper with which the publisher mercilessly thrusts him into the world. ”

“ While only a limited number of early examples have been instanced, they are suggestive of what was done in edition binding in the past, and may be done 131again in the future. Such a departure needs, no doubt, the initiative of a printer-publisher who does the best kind of work, and in a field that commands the interested support of the genuine book lover. Surely, however, to find such an one ought not to be difficult with the widespread interest now shown in every detail of book production. ”

“ Birmingham Post.—“An edition of the ‘Spectator’ which, as a book for the library, has no equal, whether we consider the stately and appropriate form, the typographical excellence, or the erudite and finished editing. Added to these is the crowning grace of a full and complete index. It is a luxury to read the early eighteenth century classic in such an edition as this.”
Glasgow Herald.—“All that the most fastidious lover of books could desire. Its size—extra crown octavo—is stately, without being cumbersome. ”

“ My dear Darwin,—You have my hurried letter telling you of the arrival of the remainder of the sheets of the reprint, and of the stir I had made for a reprint in Boston. Well, all looked pretty well, when lo, we found that a second New York publishing house had announced a reprint also! I wrote then to both New York publishers, asking them to give way to the author and his reprint of a revised edition. I got an answer from Harpers that they withdraw; from the Appletons, that they had got the book out (and the next day I saw a copy) ”

“ The change which has gradually come about in this respect called for modifications in the present edition. Many more might have been introduced without damage to the work. But it was felt that the scope and purpose of the edition only called for the most necessary of these changes. ”