Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2006 Issue

A Review of Bill McBride's E-First Edition Guide

Useful software for identifying first editions from publisher Bill McBride.

Useful software for identifying first editions from publisher Bill McBride.


by Renée Magriel Roberts

Having reviewed Bill McBride's latest edition of A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions in book form in AE Monthly, I was pleased to see a new version (taken from the Sixth Revised Edition) of the Guide in software format. Since I am glued to my computer whenever I'm doing data entry, it seemed useful to have the Guide in its own window, ready to answer questions about whether or not a particular book is indeed a first edition.

Like its paper cousin, the E-First Edition Guide is organized around an alphabetical listing of publishers. As software, this publisher list is searchable by typing all or part of its name. The E-Guide uses the same abbreviation scheme as the printed book, which does take getting used to; however, by mousing over the definition, the full explanation is revealed. Since each publisher not only comes up with its own scheme for defining its first editions (and sometimes no scheme at all), and is not consistent within its own publishing history, a guide such as this is invaluable for figuring out when a book is actually a first.

The search function will also pick out a string of letters within a name. Searching for "Wood," for example, will display a list of publishers starting with that word, such as Wood & Holbrook, but then will also find the same string within a word, such as "Arrowood Press". It's important to note that this publisher list (in both the book and the E-Guide) is not comprehensive. So if you are in doubt you may have to do further research by looking at cues within the book itself, such as the typography of the number or letter line of printings, dated introductions and prefaces correlated with publication dates, advertisements of other works which can place the book after others are published, peculiarities of the dustjacket (understanding that a jacket and book may be "married" from different sources), reliable bibliographies, and of course the collected wisdom of fellow dealers on other antiquarian sites.

First issue points, the subject of McBride's other work (still in print form), can also pinpoint a first edition in major nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors. To McBride's credit, he actively solicits corrections and additions to the work, which is why it is now in its sixth edition, both in print form and in the E-Guide. We would all benefit from active collaboration in this work, so as you explore some of the smaller publishers who have not made it into the E-Guide I encourage you to contact McBride with information to update his work. An online suggestion form on McBride's site would benefit everybody -- such as the one Amazon is now using to create Marketplace listings, as well as to amend them.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800

Article Search

Archived Articles