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Spotting 1st editions
One common question about Ladybirds is "how do I know if it's
a first edition?". Many bookshops look at th "first published 1960"
and (wrongly) assume that is a 1st ed. Several enthusiasts on the ladybirdbooks
egroup have started to compare volumes in an attempt to indentify key features
of 1st editions. The results may well end up on this site. Series Numbers indicate
when the first book in that series was published. i.e. Series 474 - the first
book was published in April (4th month of 1947). The dates given in our lists
is the year the title eras first published. Most later books only carried this
date and lacked reprint information.
All early Ladybirds came with a colour dust jacket. The hard-back
bindings were plain with the tide printed on, and a colour plate pasted into the
centre panel. Later this was dropped, and the covers carried a simple line-drawing.
Dust-wrappers were dropped in 1965 and the books then changed to having the cover
design printed directly onto the card binding. Later still the covers were given
a glossy finish. During the eighties the books began to replace illustrations
with photographs in all but the children's story and cartoon books.
I've put together a series of "Robinson Codes" for
logging these features in a database, which has been amended & expanded
by the Internet group. Note that for many books, they are not all necessary
to identify editions. In addition, there are some codes for logging the
condition of books for swapping. They take some getting used to, but should
(in theory!) make life easier in the long run. Let me have any additions
or comments.
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Codes
for ascertaining edition
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| code |
meaning |
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TAL?
|
tally
number eg TAL(120) |
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TALN
|
no
tally number |
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SPD
|
spine
lettering down |
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SPU
|
spine
lettering up |
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SPE
|
spine empty
- no lettering
|
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BLC
|
inside
cover has blue closed logo |
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BLW
|
inside
cover has blue winged logo |
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BRW
|
inside cover brown winged logo |
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ICDR?
|
inside
cover line drawing (plus colour) |
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ICTX
|
inside written
text
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CT?
|
cover text colour/s
eg CT(blue/white)
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NIS?
|
number in series
eg NIS(5). Can be used to reference other series numbers: NIS(532-2)
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NOP
|
number of pages
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PRP?
|
Price pre-decimal
eg PPR(2/6)
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PRD?
|
price decimal
eg. PRD(30p)
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PRB
|
price both decimal
& predecimal
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PRN
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no price given
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COB
|
cover
buff colour under DJ |
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COG
|
cover grey colour
under DJ
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COP
|
cover
features a picture under DJ |
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CLM
|
cover matt laminated
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| CLG |
cover
gloss laminated |
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WH/LB
|
publisher
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| DJ? |
DJ colour eg DJ(light green) |
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general
condition codes
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ED?
|
stated edition
eg ED2
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DJ?
|
jacket condition
eg DJVG, DJEX
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SP?
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spine condition
eg SPVG, SPEX
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DJM
|
jacket missing
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SC1-5
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degree of "scribbles"
inside
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SCX
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ex-libris
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