Some Methods for Identification of a First Edition
Several notations are common enough to be thought universal in the publishing industry. If you can learn these notations, the identification of a first edition book will be much easier.
"First Edition"
Some publishers will mark their books so clearly as first edition that it would be hard to misidentify the book: they simply state "first edition." If the publisher has printed "first edition" at the front of the book, your work is done. Some other variations include "first printing" or "first impression." Pay heed, however, to make sure you do not hold a book club version. Check with the bibliography of the author to note when it was originally published, as book clubs often print books in the years following the original publication date.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Other than the numerals of our counting system, this string of digits offers a great deal of information about a book's edition. Many times a publisher will include these numbers at the start of a book. The cardinal rule regarding this method of identification is that the lowest number present corresponds to the edition of printing. Therefore, if the number-string in the heading above is in your book, you most likely have a first edition. Thusly, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 would indicate a second edition book.
Some publishers vary the order of the numbers. Often they might begin with 9 and count down to the edition number. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 would indicate a first edition. Sometimes publishers scramble the numbers, but the lowest number will always be the edition, no matter where it appears in the string.
Another variation might be a substitution of letters for numbers. Seeing the letter "A" on your letter-line would alert you that your book is the first edition. For example, A B C D E F G H I means your book is first edition. If "B" is the "lowest" letter present on the letter-line, the book is a second edition.
First Published...
Infrequently publishers will eschew either of the former methods. If they do, sometimes they merely state that a book was first published in a specific year. If a book offers multiple dates of publish, the tome is not a first edition. If only one date exists in a book, it is very likely a first edition. However, like the "first edition" rule above, consulting a bibliography to make sure the copy was actually printed in the year of first publication is essential. This method is often accurate, but requires the greatest amount of verification.