FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] ID'ing Peterson's first edition

[Debra Hausrath <redstart@xxxxxxxx>]

I saw Larry Varney's Sept. 23rd posting for info on identifying 
Peterson's first editions.  Completely by accident while searching for 
books on birding in Idaho, I pulled this up: 

*HOW TO IDENTIFY THE PETERSON FIRST EDITION*

On 27 April 1934 the first printing of Roger Tory Peterson classic bird 
book: "A Field Guide to the Birds" was published by Houghton Mifflin of 
Boston. Since Peterson's death in 1996, this book has become a 
collector's item with prices to match. The first edition was printed 
four times between 1934 and 1939 when the second edition came out. Each 
printing (since these printings had minor corrections they are called 
"states", but are not considered new editions) can be identified by the 
following:

1st state: The year 1934 appears on both the title and copyright page 
(this is standard practice by Houghton Mifflin). In the Index 
"Bob-pumper" appears instead of the correct "Bog-pumper". Also two 
plates, the heron plate (opposite page 12) and the swan plate (opposite 
page 18) show white birds (Little Blue Heron, American and Snowy egrets 
on the heron plate and the Whistling Swan's neck on the swan plate) with 
grayish color instead of white. Finally the four color plates are 
covered by tissue guards, with the names of the birds shown on the plate 
printed on them, NOT by standard paper.

2nd state: The year 1934 is no longer on the title page and "Bog-pumper" 
is now in the index. Otherwise the second state is identical to the 
first state.

3rd state: The dirty gray plates have been cleaned up (most noticeable 
on the Whistling Swan's neck). The tissue guards are still present on 
the color plates.

4th state: The tissue guards are replaced by standard paper.

Only 2,000 copies of the first state were printed and 3,000 copies of 
the second were printed. The number of copies printed for the 3rd and 
4th states hasn't been determined. As for current prices you can guess 
that the first state is the most expensive. A copy of the 1st state WITH 
DUSTJACKET recently sold for $1,500. Other states usually sell for 
between $100 to $200, more if the book has its dustjacket.


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