The Cynic's Word Book, by Ambrose Bierce.

I am looking for a first edition copy of the above book and would like
some advice. I have been collecting what I thought were first editions
for quite a while and having paid over the odds for Book Club editions
and ex-library I want to be sure with future purchases.
I know the book was first printed in 1906 and the author changed the
title to The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.

"Laurence" wrote in message
oups.com...


I am looking for a first edition copy of the above book and would like
some advice. I have been collecting what I thought were first editions
for quite a while and having paid over the odds for Book Club editions
and ex-library I want to be sure with future purchases.
I know the book was first printed in 1906 and the author changed the
title to The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.

Are you saying you purchased two or more copies of each edition, 1906
and 1911, all of which you assumed were first editions ?

What makes you so confident now, that you have ex-library copies which
wasn't obvious at the time of purchase ? Either in terms of not buying
at all, or demanding a refund ?

Book club editions are usualy published contemporaeneously with
the original printing. The best known Book Club, BOMC didn't start
up until 1926, and so it seems more likely what you have are
reprints. Without any evidence to the contrary, these could have
been printed at any time between 1906, as pirated editions,
up until a few weeks before you bought them.


michael adams

....

Laurence wrote:

I am looking for a first edition copy of the above
book and would like some advice. I have been
collecting what I thought were first editions for quite
a while and having paid over the odds for Book Club
editions and ex-library I want to be sure with future
purchases. I know the book was first printed in
1906 and the author changed the title to The Devil's
Dictionary in 1911.

What exactly do you want to know? Copac (http://copac.ac.uk/) - for
example - has listings for the Doubleday and A.F. Bird 1906 editions,
and there are numerous listings for both editions on ABE
(http://www.abebooks.com/).

From the ABE descriptions it appears that the first issue of the
Doubleday edition was bound in olive-green cloth with a black and red
design, the leaves decorating the spine are upside down (stems up), and
the frontispiece is lacking. According to some entries, the printer's
imprint was also lacking.

Some listings refer to the Bibliography of American Literature (BAL),
which lists variant states. Obviously, you should consult this, if you
have not alread done so, and there are several bibliographies of Bierce
which should be of help. The most recent is Ambrose Bierce: An
Annotated Bibliography, by Joshi and Schultz (London: Greenwood Press,
1999).

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org