How does a first edition book compare to later printings?
February 6, 2006 7:36 PM Subscribe
How does a first edition book compare to later printings?
I remember I had a first edition book which I remember being thick with small lettering. There were a few more printings and now the ones I see in the book store seem considerably thinner and the print larger. I did a search and the difference seems to be about 100 pages. Can they really have edited that much out? and why?
I remember I had a first edition book which I remember being thick with small lettering. There were a few more printings and now the ones I see in the book store seem considerably thinner and the print larger. I did a search and the difference seems to be about 100 pages. Can they really have edited that much out? and why?
The differences between printings can have few to no changes, to much larger differences depending on the type of book, the content and the author.
posted by drezdn at 7:53 PM on February 6, 2006
posted by drezdn at 7:53 PM on February 6, 2006
If you post what book it is, the crack team of MeFiBrarians can probably tell you exactly what the differences are between editions.... maybe.
posted by jessamyn at 8:14 PM on February 6, 2006
posted by jessamyn at 8:14 PM on February 6, 2006
It could be an optical illusion, if the first edition had wider margins. The later ones would put more text on the page, using fewer pages, which would also make the type look "smaller" to your eyes.
Really, there are a variety of presentation tricks that books can use depending on budget.
posted by dhartung at 8:18 PM on February 6, 2006
Really, there are a variety of presentation tricks that books can use depending on budget.
posted by dhartung at 8:18 PM on February 6, 2006
From a layout perspective, margins could be set narrower, the page width/height increased or the space between lines of text reduced. Any of these methods could increase the number of words per page. Increasing the number of words per page means fewer pages.
For instance, I'm reading a book right now with 500 pages. There are roughly 450 words per page (42 lines per page). My back-of-a-napkin numbers show that if you could add seven extra lines per page (or four extra words per line), you could reduce the book to 400 pages.
The longer the original book and the more generous the original margins, the easier it is to copyfit.
posted by Jeff Howard at 8:42 PM on February 6, 2006
For instance, I'm reading a book right now with 500 pages. There are roughly 450 words per page (42 lines per page). My back-of-a-napkin numbers show that if you could add seven extra lines per page (or four extra words per line), you could reduce the book to 400 pages.
The longer the original book and the more generous the original margins, the easier it is to copyfit.
posted by Jeff Howard at 8:42 PM on February 6, 2006
If it was abridged, that'll almost always be noted somewhere on the book. But it is pretty easy to make a book noticeably thinner without losing any text. Compare a decent-sized classic like Oliver Twist in its Dover Thrift (362 pages) and Penguin Classics (608 pages) forms. Penguin has an introduction in there, but it's probably not 246 pages long.
posted by mediareport at 9:27 PM on February 6, 2006
posted by mediareport at 9:27 PM on February 6, 2006
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What kind of book and what kind of later edition?
If it's a non-fiction book, later editions will often have different information as new knowledge comes to light and other things are debunked.
If it's fiction, sometimes novels are abridged. Expecially out of copyright popular classics like Dracula, cut down or retold to make a quicker read, but in these cases, it should say somewhere that it is abridged.
Maybe the author has a streak of George Lucus?
posted by -harlequin- at 7:51 PM on February 6, 2006