First published, this edition, reprinted: dates in a book

A British paperback from the 1970s might say, on one page: "First published

1. Published in Penguin Books 1961. Reprinted 1962, 1964, 1966. © JohnSmith 1954." Four kinds of date, and only one of them is when your copy wasprinted. The ctlgs edition form has 22 date types so each of these can go inits own row. This guide says what they mean.

The rule is the same as for every other field: enter the dates the book prints, as it prints them, each under the type that matches its wording. If the book says nothing, leave the field empty and explain in Notes what you know and how you know it.

Which date shows first

An edition can have any number of date rows, and they appear in the order you enter them. The first row is the one shown at the top of the edition's page, next to the format and language. Put the date that best places this edition in time first, usually "This Edition Published" or the printing date, and the older history after it.

The text: copyright and first publication

Copyright is the © year. It belongs to the text, not to your copy, and it usually stays the same through every reprint, which is why it is the date that misleads most often. How to tell a first edition covers that trap. Copyright Renewed is for the renewal notice on older American books. Phonographic Copyright is the ℗ date on audiobooks and other recordings.

First Published is the first time this text was published anywhere, in any form. retrotechniker summed it up on the old Bookogs forum as "editio princeps": the first printed edition, ever. When a Penguin paperback says "First published by Jonathan Cape 1954", that 1954 goes in as First Published, even though Penguin had nothing to do with it.

The variants say more precisely what came first: **First Published In Hardcover, First Published In Paperback, First Published Electronically, and First Published in Country** for "First published in Great Britain 1963" on a book that first appeared somewhere else.

This edition

This Edition Published is when the edition you are holding first came out: this publisher, this format, this translation. In the example at the top, it is 1961.

Revised Edition, Reset, Republished and Reissued are for books that say so. A revised edition has a changed text. A reset edition has the same text in new type. A reissue or republication brings back a book that was out of print.

This printing

These are the dates that tell printings apart.

First Printing is the date of the first printing of this edition. Some books state it as well as a first publication date, and the two can differ. First Hardback Printing, First Paperback Printing and **First Printing in Country** narrow it the same way the First Published variants do.

Printed is when your copy was printed, for books that say so plainly. French books often end with an achevé d'imprimer line, the date the printing was finished; that is a Printed date.

Reprinted takes the reprint dates. When the book lists several ("Reprinted 1962, 1964, 1966"), enter them in one row as printed. The last one is usually the printing you hold.

This Impression and Second Impression follow British wording. Impression is the British word for a printing, and British copyright pages often read "First published 1954 / Second impression 1955 / This impression 1978". This Impression is the date of the printing you hold; it is the most useful date on the page and often the only one that changes between printings. Second Impression is for books that list their second printing by name. Printings, states and issue points explains how printings become separate entries.

Magazines

Cover Date is the date printed on a magazine's cover, such as "August 1942", which is often a month or two later than when the issue went on sale. Enter it as printed.

Translations and very old texts

These cases started the longest arguments on the old forum.

A translation often prints the original's first publication ("Originally published in Swedish as Mannen på balkongen, 1967") and then its own date. Enter the original's date as First Published, the translation's date as This Edition Published, and fill in Original Title and Original Language on the edition. Some translations print the first publication of the translation itself. There is no date type for that, so enter it under the type closest to its wording and copy the full sentence from the copyright page into Notes, so nobody has to guess what the date refers to.

For texts centuries old, the first publication date is often printed only in an introduction, if at all. One member entering a 1983 Spanish edition of a novel written around 1604 and first printed in 1626 asked whether 1626 belonged on the edition. If the edition's copyright page prints it, it does. If you know it only from the introduction or from elsewhere, put it on the Book entry instead. The Book, the title that all its editions hang from, has its own Dates field, and that is the place for when the work itself first appeared. The edition keeps the dates that describe the object.

Dates with no type

Some books print dates that are part of their making but fit no type. Polish books from before 1989, like many from the Soviet bloc, give the date the text was sent for typesetting and the date it was approved for printing. French books may give a dépôt légal date, the date of legal deposit, which is sometimes the only date in the book. Copy these into Notes in the original wording with a translation, for example "Oddano do składu 12.III.1975 (sent for typesetting)". These are often the closest thing the book has to a printing date.

When the book gives no date

Leave the date fields empty rather than guessing. If you can date the book from other evidence, such as the publisher's list of titles at the back, the price, or the address on the title page, say so in Notes, with the evidence: "Undated. Back pages advertise titles up to 1962." The next person can check your reasoning, and a guess written as a fact can't be checked.