printer's key

Usually, the printer's key is a series of non-repeating characters (numbers or letters). However its structure or presentation is not uniform, as shown in the following examples.{{sfnm|1a1=Rennicks|1y=2021|1loc={{nobr|§ "How}} Can You Tell if a Book is a First Edition?"|2a1=Ahearn|2a2=Ahearn|2y=2011|2loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oUMxWVOI_goC&lpg=PA57&pg=PA1998-IA153 "First Edition Identification By Publisher"]|ps=. {{retrieved|access-date=2022-08-24|via=Google Books|note={{font|size=111%|text=limited preview}}}}}}

The series may be in descending or ascending sequence:

In some cases, rather than follow in unidirectional sequence, the numbers may alternate from left to right:

In other cases, number lines may include a date segment consisting of two-digit consecutive-year codes:

This indicates a second printing (or {{em|second impression}}) and that it occurred in 1970. Specifically, it is the particular imprint's second impression of the edition.

When the publisher outsources the printing to a contractor, a code identifying the contracting printer may occasionally be shown:

The hypothetical printer's key above means

• third printing
• printed in 1996
• contracted to Acme Printing Corporation.

The examples above are not exhaustive; other key configurations may be used, especially in editions published following the advent of digital printing and print on demand.{{sfn|Stop Counterfeit Books|2022|loc=§ "D"}}

Bibliographers usually define a first edition as all printings from substantially the same type setting, no matter how many printings are done. Book collectors tend to define first edition as the first printing of the first edition.{{sfn|Boutell|1949|p=[ix]|loc={{nobr|§ "Explanatory}} note to the Original Edition"}}{{sfn|Carter|1995|pp=84{{en dash}}85|loc={{nobr|§ "Edition}} and Impression"}}

With each successive reprint, the publisher needs to instruct the printer to change the impression character. In practice, if the plates (in offset printing) have been kept, a character can be erased, but nothing can be added. In this arrangement, all the printer need do is "rub off" the last character in sequence. Changing only the outer character requires the fewest possible changes to the page of characters, which means the smallest possible charge to the publisher.{{sfn|Boutell|1949|p=26|loc={{nobr|§ "Thomas}} Y. Crowell Company" {{nobr|¶ "1947}} Statement"}} In the days of letterpress printing, where each character was a metal block, all the printer had to do was to pick out the relevant block(s) from the "sheet"; the remaining stack of blocks, which had been laboriously laid out when the page was first set up, could then be inked for the reprint.{{sfn|Levy|Mole|2017|pp=17{{en dash}}22|loc={{nobr|§ "Making}} Printed Books"}} In the case of a Linotype slug, the lowest character could be filed off and the slug reused.{{refn|name=theory|In theory; linotype operators sometimes used files (and other tools) in order to make fine adjustments.{{sfnm|1a1=The Inland Printer|1y=1899|1p=745|2a1=Stedman|2y=1918}}}} For offset printing with metal plates, the character can be erased without damaging the rest of the plate. In each case, the change is minimal.{{sfn|Duncan|Smyth|2019|p=64}}{{refn|name=date|Although a number line's date segment (if it exists) follows the changes in the print run sequence, it may not necessarily change at the same rate or the same time.}}

In modern computer to plate typesetting and digital printing the entire printer's key may be easily re-imaged (instead of reset by erasing or removing individual characters). This allows additional key configurations.{{sfn|Stop Counterfeit Books|2022|loc=§ "D"}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|author1-last=Ahearn|author1-first=Allen|author2-last=Ahearn|author2-first=Patricia|year=2011|orig-year=originally published 1991. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUMxWVOI_goC|url-access=limited|title=Collected books: the guide to identification and values|edition=4th|type=ebook|location=Comus, Maryland|publisher=Quill & Brush Press|isbn=978-1-8830-6014-5|name-list-style=amp|access-date=2022-08-10|via=Google Books}}

• {{cite book|author-last=Boutell|author-first=Henry S.|editor-last=Boutell|editor-first=Roger|year=1949|orig-year=originally published 1928. London: Elkin Mathews|title=First editions of today and how to tell them|url=https://archive.org/details/firsteditionsoft013431mbp|edition=3rd revised & enlarged|location=Berkeley & Los Angeles|publisher=University of California Press|lccn=50000048|oclc=1196280655|via=Internet Archive}}

• {{cite book|author-last=Carter|author-first=John|author-link=John Carter (writer)|year=1995|orig-year=originally published 1952. London: Rupert Hart-Davis|title=ABC for book collectors|url=https://archive.org/details/abcforbookcollec0000cart_w6t3|url-access=registration|edition=7th corrected|others=Corrections, additions and Introduction by Barker, Nicolas|location=Newcastle, Delaware|publisher=Oak Knoll Press|isbn=9781884718052|via=Internet Archive}}

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Duncan|editor1-first=Dennis|editor2-last=Smyth|editor2-first=Adam|year=2019|title=Book parts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCeeDwAAQBAJ|edition=1st|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192579416|access-date=2022-08-10|name-list-style=amp|url-access=limited|via=Google Books}}

• {{cite web|ref={{sfnref|Stop Counterfeit Books|2022}}|author=|year=2022|title=Identifying a book's print run|url=https://stopcounterfeitbooks.com/resources/identifying-a-books-print-run/|website=Stop Counterfeit Books|publisher=Cengage et al. {{interp|book-publisher consortium}}|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803033359/https://stopcounterfeitbooks.com/resources/identifying-a-books-print-run/|archive-date=2022-08-03|access-date=2022-08-06|via=Wayback Machine}}

• {{cite book|author1-last=Levy|author1-first=Michelle|author2-last=Mole|author2-first=Tom|year=2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iwJbDwAAQBAJ|url-access=limited|title=The Broadview introduction to book history|edition=1st|type=paperback|location=Peterborough, Ontario|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=9781554810871|name-list-style=amp|access-date=2022-08-11|via=Google Books}}

• {{cite magazine|ref={{sfnref|The Inland Printer|1899}}|author=|date=March 1899|title=Machine Composition Notes and Queries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_ooAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA744|magazine=The Inland Printer|volume=22|issue=6|pages=744{{en dash}}746|quote-page=744|location=Chicago|quote={{interp|Section byline:}} Conducted by an expert.|oclc=714712112|access-date=2022-08-14|url-access=registration|via=Google Books}}

• {{cite web|author-last=Rennicks|author-first=Rich|date=17 December 2021|title=Identifying first editions|url=https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/identifying-first-editions|department=The New Antiquarian {{interp|blog}}|website=Antiquarian & Rare Books|location=New York|publisher=ABAA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103051644/https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/identifying-first-editions|archive-date=2022-01-03|access-date=2022-08-11|via=Wayback Machine}}

• {{cite magazine|author-last=Stedman|author-first=E. C.|date=March 1918|title=Filing Combinations|department=Hints for Operators and Machinists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4XnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA110|magazine=The Linotype Bulletin|volume=14|issue=7|page=110|location=New York|publisher=Mergenthaler Linotype Company|oclc=608103572|access-date=2023-10-08|url-access=registration|via=Google Books}}

{{refend}}

Category:Book design

Category:Typesetting