T.S.Eliot Four Quartets edition help

Hello
I found on my shelf a thin book by T.S. Eliot titled Four Quartets
The © is 1943 There is no other printing history on that page..
no First Edition nothing except ©1943 T.S.Eliot no dust jacket..
Roaming around I found this for a second printing
"First edition, second issue, without the edition note on the
copyright page and without code designations in brackets used in
subsequent printings"
I do not know what this exactly means..Are the code designations on
the copyright page?
TIA

wrote:
> Hello
> I found on my shelf a thin book by T.S. Eliot titled Four Quartets
> The © is 1943 There is no other printing history on that page..
> no First Edition nothing except ©1943 T.S.Eliot no dust jacket..
> Roaming around I found this for a second printing
> "First edition, second issue, without the edition note on the
> copyright page and without code designations in brackets used in
> subsequent printings"
> I do not know what this exactly means..Are the code designations on
> the copyright page?
> TIA


Since you mention code designations, you must have the
Harcourt Brace edition in America, not the Faber & Faber
edition from England. As Eliot lived in England, I would
denote the Faber and Faber edition as the true first. The
first Harcourt Brace edition was a small issue of which only
788 copies remain after a recall for poor printing. That
printing states "First American Edition" on the copyright
page (that would be the edition note). The second issue (or
second printing) does not have those three words. Also it
does not have the month and year codes that Harcourt usually
placed in brackets so that a buyer would know its priority
in printing. For instance [E.7.56] would indicate 5th
Printing, July 1956. Yes, these codes would be on the
copyright page. See this example:
http://www.lepetitprince.net/sub_HB/indexHB-1E.html

--
Francis A. Miniter

ως ουκ αν αιων' εκμαθοις βροτων, πριν αν
θανη τις, ουτε ει χρηστος ουτ' ει τω κακος.