The book is called Life In Double Time - Confessions of an American Drummer by Mike Lankford.
I checked the internet and there is a price on the inside of the dust jacket, and on the copyright page the numbers 10 to 1 appear with the 10 being on the left of the line.
I know that identifying a book as a first edition varies, so I 'm hoping someone here may know of another step that I might be missing.
I found the book for .50 at Big lots and here it is on amazon. As you can see, the prices in different versions are all over the place.
I know the book may not be worth anything at all, but I’m kinda excited since I’ve never owned a First Edition before.
Thanks
Q
It’s almost certainly a first edition (being sure about this stuff is complicated). Following the Amazon link, I’d say it’s worth ten to twenty bucks.
Prices on Amazon do tend to be all over the place, mainly because the Amazon fee structure (don’t pay till it’s sold, fixed minimum fees), tend to encourage people to be ambitious.
First editions for most books aren’t that uncommon or desirable, most people will tend to have quite a lot of them, especially if they tend to buy books as they are released. Basically, it needs to be something that large number of people would actually care enough about to pay a premium for the first edition.
These days, the only thing that really have value are either first/collectible edition of famous or cult books (especially if they are surprise success and had a very small initial run) or desirable books that can’t easily be reprinted for some reason.
It’s so cheap to reprint books these days, that a lot of books that were very sought after are now being reprinted, with the second hand editions nose diving in price.
Every book ever printed has had a First Edition. Often that is the only edition.
The other issue is that there are lots of bulk reselllers on Amazon, who buy in house clearences, and then list in bulk, for whom it’s not worthwhile to scrupulously price check.
So, with a little patience, you can often get books that you would really expect to sell at a premium for next to nothing.
Pity all those upscale second hand bookshops, who have been left sitting on vast stockpiles of interesting old leatherbound books that they can still sometimes sell to gullible digital luddites, but whose actual value is often zero.
Yeah it might be cool, and amusing, and from 200 freaking years ago, but if there are only 10 history geeks who want to get their anachronism on, and who actually know about the book, even if there are just 50 copies floating around in the book trade, then the resulting sell price is just about going to cover postage.
I’ve seen old books that have actually recieved modern reprints for the anachronism value, where it would still be cheaper to buy the original version rather than a new copy of the reprint, which is more than a bit crazy.
Well, I’ve only read them on Amazon, but the reviews were very favorable. Of course, it’s hard to tell who were drummers and who were normal humans.
Thanks
Q
Alexander Woollcott, proudly holding up a copy of his new book: “Oh, what is so rare as a Woollcott first edition?”
Franklin Pierce Adams: “A Woollcott second edition.”
I bet Woolcott thought that was a compliment! 
Love it!
Quasi