identifying what printing ?

Michael Reyome wrote:

 > I recently obtained a signed copy of Anne Rice's - The Tale Of The Body
 > Thief.
 >
 > The copyright page reads :
 > Published October 31 1992
 > Reprinted once
 > Third printing before publishing.
 >
 > Is this a 1st edition, 3rd printing.
 > Or were the other 2 printings ARC's. etc.
 >
 > Therebye making this a First thus...
 > Can this rightly be called a 1st edition,

This question comes up every few months (see <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://tinyurl.com/fsnb," target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/fsnb,</a> for
example, or <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://tinyurl.com/fsnc" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/fsnc</a>). There's also an explanation in the
FAQs (http://www.massmedia.com/~mikeb/rcb/#50).

Basically the answer is, no, from a book-collecting point of view this is
not a first edition. In the book-collecting world "first edition" is really
shorthand for "first printing of the first edition". In the publishing
world, all printings of the first edition are considered "first edition".
This difference between what book-collectors mean by first edition and what
publishers mean frequently leads to confusion.

--
John
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://rarebooksinjapan.com" target="_blank">http://rarebooksinjapan.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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