The earliest edition of a book or other printed work.
a first edition of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
Example sentencesExamples
The first edition of his collected works appeared in 1714.
Good quality first editions can fetch healthy prices.
I have transferred her correction to this edition, although it is not in agreement with other uncorrected copies of the first edition.
This updated text, first edition published in 1971, incorporates ideas on how managers and presenters can deal with our changing technological world.
Probably no art book has been as widely read or sold as The Story of Art (first edition, 1950, and now in its sixteenth edition and available in multiple languages).
Author JK Rowling has given her personal support to an auction of rare Harry Potter first editions in Salisbury, which are expected to make a five-figure sum for charity.
Previous sales of Jane Eyre first editions have commanded impressive prices.
Last year, a set of four signed first editions went for around £25,000.
The title page of the first edition of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (1623) gives Richard Burbage the part of Ferdinand.
The first edition survives only in part of one copy; the second followed in the same year.
The novel was a great success, the first edition selling out within the week.