The term First Edition is one of the most poorly understood, and most abused, terms in the lexicons of book selling and book collecting. Many collectors, and booksellers for that matter, seem to think that a First Edition represents the very first version of an author's work, or the most authentic version of an author's work, or the scarcest edition of an author's work. Maybe...maybe not:
1st appearance in print of Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in The National Era, 5 June 1851-1 April 1852
In simplest terms, First Edition merely means all copies of a book printed substantially from the first setting of type. The key word here is "substantially": under this definition, multiple issues, states or impressions may exist. (Click on one of the glossaries in the left-hand column of this blog for a detailed definition of these and other bibliographic terms).
This definition generally is not what many modern book collectors mean when they say that they collect First Editions--what they really mean is they collect the First Impression of the First Edition (the first printing from an unchanged first setting of type). This, however, still is a problematical definition given the history of printing.
When printing first was introduced to Western Europe, the first printed edition of a work which previously had been available only in manuscript form was known as an Editio Princeps.
Editio Princeps of Aristotle's Works, printed by Aldus Manutius in 1495
As printed works became more generally available, references to a First Edition basically meant the same thing as First Impression of a First Edition, since--up until about 1750-- most printers normally distributed type for re-use as soon as they finished printing a particular title.
It was not until printing became heavily mechanized in the third quarter of the 18th century that printers began to reprint particularly popular works in quick succession using the same setting of type, giving rise to multiple impressions of the First Edition. This, however, was not the same thing as an author's first appearance in print, a matter which we shall examine in more detail tomorrow....
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