Did you know that the first edition of A Christmas Carole, by Charles Dickens, sold for $500,000? If you enjoy thrifting and checking out bookstores then it is important that you know how to identify first edition books. Vintage books make great collectors’ items and they have a ton of value, but you need to know what you’re looking for if you want to find the most expensive first edition books.
There are little signs that experts know to look for which you can use if you’re trying to learn how to tell if a book is a first edition. The good news is that you’re in the perfect place to learn how to identify a first edition book for the next time that you go to your favorite used book store.
Keep reading this article to learn more today!
Copyright Date
A big sign that you’ve found first edition books is the copyright date that gets printed within the book. You need to know the year that the books were published before you start looking for the copyright date. If the vintage books have a copyright date that is the same as the year in which the books were published then it is a great first sign that you’ve found some first edition books.
Look for “First Edition”
You should also find the words “First Edition” in the book near the copyright date if the book that you’ve found is a first edition book. This isn’t a guarantee since some publishers added this into the books while others did not. Don’t give up on the books that you’ve found if you don’t see “First Edition” in them.
“First Edition” has different meanings to different people. For collectors, those words mean the first physical copy of the book that was printed. For publishers, that means the first version of the text of the book.
Print Run Number
The print run number is one of the most effective ways of finding first edition books out there. The print run number relates to the number of books that were printed the first time around. If you’ve found vintage books that you think are valuable then you should consider visiting http://cash4yourbooks.net/rare-and-vintage-first-edition-book-buyers/.
The print run number could be large or small depending on the publisher of the book in question. The print run number gets printed in a sequence of different numbers that are between 1 and 10. The lowest number that you find on the print run page is the number that you’re looking for when trying to learn how to identify first edition books.
Now You’re Ready to Learn How to Identify First Edition Books
Learning how to identify first edition books is pretty simple once you know what to look for and where to look in vintage books. You’ll want to look for the copyright date to see if it matches the date that the book was first published. It is also smart to look for the text stating “First Edition” in the book, as well as the print run number.
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