[HPFGU-OTChatter] First Editions

[GulPlum]

At 19:42 06/06/03 , Jenny wrote:
>Hi Potterites,
>
>I have a couple questions.

>1. How do you tell if your book is a first edition?

I'm assuming that you're referring to the UK books. Look on the copyright 
page (the one with all the legal disclaimers and publishing date) and at 
the very bottom is a row of numbers (or just one number), running from 
right to left. If the sequence in your (hardback) books is 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 
2 1, it's a first edition (the same applies to paperback editions, which 
have their own edition numbers). In the case of GoF, the hardback first 
edition doesn't have a row of numbers, but the phrase "First Edition" instead.

In my case, they're paperbacks and the numbers are:
PS: 61
CoS: 40 39 38 37 36 35 34
PoA: 20 19 18 17 16
GoF: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

>2. Won't most of the books that we buy the twenty-first, at midnight, be 
>first editions?

In theory, they should *all* be first editions, as it's unlikely that 
Bloomsbury would order up a reprint before the first one is sold out. :-) 
They already know how many pre-orders are out there and which shops have 
ordered how many copies, so they've got a pretty good idea of how many 
copies to print before worrying about a second edition. (Bear in mind, for 
instance, that most hardback copies of GoF in bookshops even now are first 
editions; as far as I'm aware, a second edition hardback wasn't published 
until after the first movie came out).








>Thanks :)