The Cynic's Word Book, by Ambrose Bierce.

External Since: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 2

I am looking for a first edition copy of the above book and would like
some advice. I have been collecting what I thought were first editions
for quite a while and having paid over the odds for Book Club editions
and ex-library I want to be sure with future purchases.
I know the book was first printed in 1906 and the author changed the
title to The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.

External Since: Jun 19, 2007 Posts: 74

Laurence wrote:

>I am looking for a first edition copy of the above
>book and would like some advice. I have been
>collecting what I thought were first editions for quite
>a while and having paid over the odds for Book Club
>editions and ex-library I want to be sure with future
>purchases. I know the book was first printed in
>1906 and the author changed the title to The Devil's
>Dictionary in 1911.

What exactly do you want to know? Copac (http://copac.ac.uk/) - for
example - has listings for the Doubleday and A.F. Bird 1906 editions,
and there are numerous listings for both editions on ABE
(http://www.abebooks.com/).

>From the ABE descriptions it appears that the first issue of the
Doubleday edition was bound in olive-green cloth with a black and red
design, the leaves decorating the spine are upside down (stems up), and
the frontispiece is lacking. According to some entries, the printer's
imprint was also lacking.

Some listings refer to the Bibliography of American Literature (BAL),
which lists variant states. Obviously, you should consult this, if you
have not alread done so, and there are several bibliographies of Bierce
which should be of help. The most recent is Ambrose Bierce: An
Annotated Bibliography, by Joshi and Schultz (London: Greenwood Press,
1999).

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org