first edition books.

[Kenzo]

how can i tell if a book is first edition?

i've read that you have to basically look for a 1 or A on the publishing page.

i've got tony parsons 'stories we could tell' and under the published by HarperCollins bit all it has is a number 1 on it's own.

[Clanad]

Very generally, the number you reference is a series of numbers (1 4 5 6 4 7 9 8 as an example) and will contain a number 1 if it's first edition, a 2 if 2nd edition, etc. Another important clue is the year the book was printed, again, probably on the title page and the year the book was copyrighted. If these are the same, it's a good chance it's a first edition... Best of luck!

[Clanad]

Harper Collins should say "First Edition" followed by a number line as discussed above...

[Kenzo]

it was published in 2005 and it says 'published by harpercollins publishers 2005' then underneath there is 1

and thats it.

thanks for the help, much appreciated.