Identifying First Edition Beginner Books
A couple of years ago I posted a series of blog articles which provided identification points for the first fifty Beginner Books, and later collected them into one permanant webpage (see Identifying First Edition Beginner Books).
The articles included identification points for each book, and provided the publication sequence along with the back dust jacket graphic. In essence the titles listed on the back of the dust jacket are the key to identifying most of the early Beginner Books. These articles were the first time identification points were posted for this set of Beginner Books.
While the articles centered upon the publication sequence of the dust jacket backs, they did not provide a good navigational method to each book, and today’s post is purposed to correct the oversight.
Accessible First Edition Identification Points Helps The Hobby
Book collectors and booksellers tend to shy away from books without documented first edition identification points, or in cases where the identification points are not well understood. There is too much risk buying or selling the unknown collectible.
Over the past three years book collector and bookseller interest has increased in the non-Seuss first edition Beginner Books (the Younger/Hirsch Guide To First Edition Dr. Seuss books helped the hobby with the Seuss first edition Beginner Books). People have become more confident buying and selling first edition Beginner Books. The market for the later printings is also more robust.
One of my underlying purposes for this blog and the parent web site is to make first edition idenfication points more transparent and accessible for contemporary American picturebooks. In the long run I strongly believe this will strengthen the hobby.
Many traditional booksellers are not in agreement with this philosophy, since they profit from their proprietary knowledge of first edition identification points:
- Book collectors must rely upon them for this proprietary information.
- Proprietary knowledge of first edition identification points is a competitive advantage over less well-informed booksellers.
- Less scrupulous booksellers can make a windfall profit by purchasing books from a less informed public
(Note: In open shop transactions, by rules of the trade, offers from reputable booksellers will be wholesale market prices for first edition books, even if the seller is unaware of the issue of their holdings.)
This traditional thinking impairs the hobby of collecting first edition American picturebooks. Proprietary and possessive ownership of first edition identification points:
- Limits the number of collectors who want to participate in the hobby.
- Limits the number of booksellers who want to participate in the hobby.
- Reduces the liquidity of first edition picturebooks.
- Suppresses the price/value of first edition picturebooks.
More people will enter the hobby as they learn first edition picturebooks are valuable collectibles. The books have a familiarity to a large number of people, and picturebooks are very accessible – most can be read and appreciated in moments. And we will continue our small part to promote the hobby.
Click on the front cover image, below, to the respective page for first edition identification points for each Beginner Book.
By: Jane Mack,
on 9/29/2007
Blog: Saipan Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: TWPI, Up the Down Staircase, On Stage, Add a tag
By: Jane Mack,
on 9/28/2007
Blog: Saipan Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: students, TWPI, Up the Down Staircase, On Stage, Add a tag
Student actors and actresses, student directors, student set designers, student artists, student costumes--UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE is an entirely-student show. And it's fun!
Friday's audience was mostly students, too! The tightly-scripted show is guaranteed to get laughs, but also explore the difficulties of teaching and learning when life is happening all around.
Kudos to all who participated. And break a leg on the 1:30 PM and 6:30 PM Saturday shows.
By: Jane Mack,
on 9/17/2007
Blog: Saipan Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Thespians, TWPI, Up the Down Staircase, Add a tag
More than 40 students from Saipan area middle schools and high schools are staging the classic school drama, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE. The play is set for 9/28 at 6:30 PM and Saturday 9/29 at 1:30 (matinee) and 6:30 PM at the Multi-Purpose Center. This is an entirely student run production-from directing to acting to costume and stage set design to tech crew. Our students learn a lot from this cooperative artistic endeavor and they do a great job with production values.
And you can't beat the prices. :-)
Hope to see you there.
By: Jane Mack,
on 7/1/2007
Blog: Saipan Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Thespians, TWPI, International Thespian Festival, Add a tag
Reports are starting to trickle in from the CNMI's Thespians who participated in the International Thespian Festival at Lincoln, Nebraska.
The biggest news so far is that Jomanda Manglona won a scholarship through her competitions. Yay! And congratulations.
You can see some photos, also, over at the Mount Carmel Junior Thespians' blog troupe88799 .
Looks and sounds like they did well, had fun, learned something and made us all proud.
By: Linda & Stan Zielinski,
on 5/9/2007
Blog: Children's Picturebook Price Guide (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seuss First Editions, Seuss First Editions, Add a tag
The conventional wisdom among booksellers is first edition Dr. Seuss books cannot be identified without the dust jacket. This used to be true. With the recent discovery of some salient information, today, most of the large format Dr. Seuss books can be identified as first printings without the dust jacket.
There are a couple of cases where the first printing book is indistinguishable from the book used in the 2nd and 3rd printing. In these cases, the book remained unchanged but the dust jacket was changed. Even so, these books still have collectibility (desirability) and value.
To help clarify, from the ABAA’s glossary:
Edition & Printing:
Edition includes the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same plates or setting of type. If 500 copies of a book are printed on Oct. 5 and 300 copies are printed from the same substantially unchanged plates on Dec. 10, all 800 copies are part of the same edition.
Printing: the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same press run or from the same plates or setting of type at one time.
In the example given for "Edition" above, the 500 copies would be the first printing and the 300 copies comprise the second printing.
First Edition:
All of the copies printed from the first setting of type; can include multiple printings if all are from the same setting of type. When book collectors use the term first edition, they are usually referring to the first printing and if there are different states or issues, the earliest of those.
In all of the Dr. Seuss books presented, the first edition book can be identified without the dust jackets. In nearly all cases, the book is also the first edition/first printing. In a couple of cases, the book is the first edition/’first or early’ printing.
We describe ‘Availability’ for each of the books. Most of the first edition books are difficult to find in the market. ‘Very difficult’ means one or no copies are usually available from the internet bookselling sites (ABE, Alibris, or Bookfinder). ‘Extremely difficult’ means a copy is not usually on the market, however might surface once or twice per year.
[Note: Where applicable, below, the book's title links to the identification points for the first edition book with dust jacket.]
It’s difficult to price first edition books without dust jackets. A first edition Mulberry Street with dust jacket might sell for $8000 in Very Good condition. The first edition book might sell in the $300-$600 range, so about 1/20th the value of the first edition book with dust jacket.
The Cat In The Hat first edition book with dust jacket would have a market value of $4000 or so in Very Good condition. The first edition book might sell for $50 or so, since it is not too difficult to find.
Since the Dr. Seuss first edition books with dust jacket are too expensive for many children's book collectors, they might consider the first edition book without dust jacket as an alternative.
And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street 1937
Title page with ‘1937,’ Vanguard Press, and copyright page with no additional printings listed. Marco’s shorts are white on the front cover; on later printings Marco had blue shorts.
Availability: ‘White pants’ books are extremely difficult to find.
The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins 1938
The front endpapers progress from large hats to small hats; the rear endpapers progress from small hats to large hats. On later printings the progression was reversed.
Availability: ‘Large-to-small hat’ books are extremely difficult to find.
The King's Stilts 1939
Front cover with the yellow text ‘The King’s Stilts by Dr. Seuss’ on a red background covering nearly the entire area. On later printings, the title was reduced in size, with red text on a yellow cloth background.
Availability: ‘Large logo’ books are very difficult to find.
Horton Hatches The Egg 1940
States ‘First Printing’ on the copyright page.
Availability: ‘First Printing’ books are extremely difficult to find.
McElligot’s Pool 1947
Front cover has fish with mouth open.
Availability: ‘Open mouth’ books are very difficult to find.
Thidwick: The Big-Hearted Moose 1948
The first edition boards are red. The book with red boards was used with the first printing dust jacket (with ‘starburst’) and the second printing dust jacket (sans ‘starburst’, ‘200/200’ on front flap).
Availability: Red boards books are difficult to find.
Bartholomew And The Oobleck 1949
The first printing book has blue boards. Later printings were changed to red boards.
Availability: Blue boards books are difficult to find.
If I Ran The Zoo 1950
Copyright page with seven lines only, omitting the line “BASED ON MATERIAL WHICH ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN REDBOOK MAGAZINE.” Later printings have eight lines, including the Redbook line.
Availability: ‘No Redbook’ boards books are extremely difficult to find.
Horton Hears A Who 1954
Horton has full ear on back cover and the list of other Seuss titles on the recto of the back free endpaper. Second printings also have Horton with full ear on back cover and Seuss title list on the copyright page.
Availability: ‘Full ear/Rear titles page’ boards books are extremely difficult to find.
Availability: ‘Full ear/Copyright titles page’ books are very difficult to find.
If I Ran The Circus 1956
The first printing book has pink boards. Later printings were changed to red & yellow boards.
Availability: ‘Pink boards’ books are not so difficult to find.
The Cat In The Hat 1957
Matte boards with single binding signature. Later printings have glossy boards with three binding signatures.
The ‘matte cover with single signature’ book can be found with the 2nd printing dust jacket (no price on flap) and 3rd printing dust jackets (‘195/195’ on front flap).
Availability: ‘Single signature’ books are difficult to find.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas 1957
Back cover with full page advertisement for The Cat In The Hat offered for sale for $2.00.
This book was used on 2nd printing dust jackets (295/295 front flap) and 3rd printing dust jackets (295/295 and 16 titles listed).
Availability: ‘Back Ad $2.00’ books are not so difficult to find.
Cat In The Hat Comes Back 1958
Copyright page states ‘First Printing.” Also, the snowball to the left of the Cat's tail is only on the first edition book.
Availability: ‘First Printing’ books are not so difficult to find.
Happy Birthday To You 1959
The first printing book has a printing error on page 34 (page beginning with “Today is your birthday”), with six white spots that do not appear in later printings.
Availability: ‘White spots’ books are not so difficult to find.
It is a complicated subject, the idea of first edition being ‘first edition/first printing.’
As an example, the "conventional wisdom" first edition The Cat In The Hat, with the ‘200/200’ on the front flap, is considered the first printing, while the '200/200' was in actuality used in numerous printings.
"Huh?", you ask. Let me explain.
The Cat In The Hat was first published in March of 1957. The sales far exceeded initial expectations. The ‘200/200’ dust jacket was used on the book into early 1958, and perhaps mid-1958.
The first instance I can find of the book’s price reduction to ‘195/195’ is in the October, 1958 edition of The Horn Book Magazine (pg. 325), where Random House advertises the first six Beginner Books for $1.95.
It is illogical to believe the initial printing of The Cat In The Hat for the March, 1957 publication was sufficient to supply books for all of the sales through January or March of 1958. And especially in light of sales being higher then initially expected.
Therefore the logical conclusion is there were multiple printings of the ‘200/200’ Cat In The Hat through the course of 1957.
The book collecting community currently cannot distinguish the first ‘200/200’ printing from each of the other ‘200/200’ printings, yet we still consider all as ‘first edition/first printing’.
The first edition ‘200/200’ Cat In The Hat routinely sells for $3000 in today’s market.
Add a Comment
By: Jane Mack,
on 4/23/2007
Blog: Saipan Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Thespians, TWPI, Add a tag
TWPI-That's Thespians of the Western Pacific! Our dramatic middle and high school students had their regional competition Saturday, April 21, 2007 at WSR. Despite the intermittent rain that turned to steam in the sun, the students managed to keep their cool and perform their pieces with flair and panache.
Winning in the high school Thespian competition:
Regional 1st places: Monologue: Ryan Gutierez.
Duet: Richelle Denora and Ryan Gutierez
Solo Musical: Tikla Brown
Mime: Moon Lee and Tommy Baik
The cumulative points for the entire Thespian season resulted in the same top place awards, except in Solo Musical, where Joan T. Liwanag outscored Tikla by 2 points for the overall seasonal win, despite the regional competition result.
Winning in the junior Thespian competition:
Regional 1st places: Monologue: Anna Rose DLGuerrero*
Duet: Dayanara Flores and R. Banados
Solo Musical: Anna Rose DLGuerrero*
Mime: J. Camacho and N. Salem
Duet and Mime regional first place winners were also the top finishers in the overall points in their categories. But cumulative points resulted in overall wins in Monologue by Dayanara Flores, and in Solo Musical by Akiko Dela Cruz.
Those with the highest cumulative points may participate in national competition at the International Thespian Society (ITS) Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska, scheduled in late June this year. There may be some slight variations, as students who won in more than one category opt for the one they'll compete in, and possibly second place winners will then compete instead; or if any student winner doesn't go to the nationals, the second or even third place finisher may take the place. It's a juggling act right now!
Congratulations to all students who participated.
Each year, we're seeing more and more students in tighter competitions. Performing arts are an important part of the school curriculum, with arts mandated to be part of the No Child Left Behind program. The talent among our kids is pretty impressive, but more important are the benefits in language development, teamwork, and cultural understanding that drama promotes.
If you want to see the complete scorecard and speculate about the national competition line-up, you can view the matrix here .
Good luck to the Thespians and Junior Thespians who will be representing TWPI in the nationals at the ITS Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Have fun and break a leg.
*P.S. Yes, the one and only daughter of mine! The flair for the dramatic is growing stronger. I didn't think that possible.