So I’ve known it was an old copy of the book. It’s hardcover and it’s old, but today I checked the copyright date and it’s from 1965 which was the year Dune was published. I don’t have any dust jacket for it.
But I think it’s a first edition.
How cool is that?
I don’t remember where it came from, it may belong to one of my older brothers and it came into my possession through the boxes of their books. But it makes a nice focal point of my book shelves.
The original publisher was Chilton and IIRC, they made 2 versions of the first edition. The rarer one is just the Chilton one, and the more common one is a Book of the Month Club* edition. I know that the dust jacket said ‘Book of the Month Club’, but I don’t remember if there is anything inside to indicate that - I imagine that there is.
*I think it was book of the month, I can check for sure when I get home, because I do have that version.
I felt the same way when I discovered the copy of Animal Farm I grew up reading was an Americna First Edition. Rock on.
This one was indeed printed by Chilton but it doesn’t say anything about the book club on the inside cover. I have no intentions of selling it, I just think it’s really cool to suddenly discover that this is a first edition printing…
Chilton first editions are recognized either by the words “First Edition” printed on the reverse of the title page or a sequence of numbers, i.e. 123456789 or the reverse, with the number 1 included.
Lacking those, the book is a book club edition.
I, too, have a true first of Dune - if you are interested in details, you are welcome to email me - I did a ton of research on it but don’t have it with me at work. There are points to look for on both the book and the dj (which isn’t relevant here, but is the most hard to clarify part of confirming the book is a first and can add 90%+ to the value of the first edition).
Scott
Based on that it’s a book club book because I looked for the countdown and couldn’t find it.
Thanks for the info folks. Though it isn’t a first edition, it’s still cool to have such an old copy of it.
FYI, I quickly checked my copy on the way out this morning - as I remembered, no countdown, but the statement “First Edition.” I didn’t check my research, but I seem to recall that another statement on the copyright page has specific wording that is important to differentiate a First Edition, First State from later states…