BBourse

Guides › Frank Herbert › Dune

How to identify a first edition of Dune

Dune was first published in book form by Chilton Books of Philadelphia in 1965, a publisher better known for car repair manuals, in a small first printing. Chilton reprinted it several times without changing much, and a book club edition followed that looks like the first at a glance. Every Chilton printing keeps the words “First Edition” on the copyright page, so the points are what comes after them, the binding and the jacket. Five checks, each shown below on real copies, tell the first printing in its first issue jacket from a later printing and from the book club edition.

First printing, unsigned, near fine: $25,169 · Signed, near fine: $12,650 · Full values by condition

The five checks

  1. Copyright page: “First Edition” followed directly by “All Rights Reserved”, with no later printings listed.
  2. Binding: light blue cloth, spine lettered in white. Red boards are the book club edition.
  3. Jacket front flap: priced $5.95 at the top. $7.95 with an ISBN is later; no price is the book club.
  4. Jacket rear flap: the four-line imprint “Chilton Books / A Division of Chilton Company / Publishers / Philadelphia and New York”.
  5. Book club: no “First Edition” on the copyright page, red boards and a jacket with no price.

1. “First Edition”, and no printings listed under it

Turn to the copyright page, the back of the title page. The first printing reads “Copyright © 1965 by Frank Herbert”, then “First Edition” and directly under it “All Rights Reserved”, with Chilton Company in Philadelphia and Ambassador Books in Toronto. Chilton never removed “First Edition” from later printings: it added the reprints under it (“Second Printing, April, 1968”, and so on), and later printings name Thomas Nelson & Sons in Ontario instead of Ambassador Books. Any printing listed under “First Edition” means a later printing. The book club edition has no “First Edition” line at all (check 5).

First printing
Dune first edition 1965 Chilton copyright page, First Edition and All Rights Reserved, Ambassador Books Toronto
Fourth printing
Dune later printing copyright page, First Edition followed by Second, Third and Fourth Printing

2. Light blue cloth, lettered in white

Take off the jacket. The first printing is bound in light blue cloth, the spine lettered in white: Herbert, Dune in the jacket’s script, and Chilton at the foot. The front board is plain. The book club edition is bound in red boards with the spine lettered in orange. Later Chilton printings were bound in other colours too, so a blue binding confirms the copyright page rather than replacing it.

First printing
Dune first edition Chilton 1965 binding, light blue cloth with the spine lettered in white
Book club edition
Dune book club edition binding, red boards with the spine lettered in orange

3. The jacket is priced $5.95

The first issue jacket is priced $5.95 at the top of the front flap, above the title. Later jackets are priced $7.95 with the ISBN 0-8019-5077-5 under it, or higher. The book club jacket has no price at all, and reads “Book Club Edition” at the foot of the front flap. Chilton kept the $5.95 price on some reprint jackets, so the price rules a jacket out but cannot prove it is the first issue: check the rear flap next.

First issue jacket
Dune first edition dust jacket front flap priced $5.95
Later jacket
Dune later dust jacket front flap priced $7.95 with ISBN 0-8019-5077-5
Book club jacket
Dune book club edition dust jacket front flap with no price

A price clipped from the corner of the flap removes this point, and lowers the value of the jacket.

4. Four lines of Chilton Books on the rear flap

At the foot of the rear flap, under the credit “jacket art / john schoenherr”, the first issue jacket has a four-line imprint: “CHILTON BOOKS” over a rule, then “A DIVISION OF CHILTON COMPANY”, “Publishers” and “Philadelphia and New York”. Later jackets have two lines, “CHILTON BOOK COMPANY / Philadelphia New York London”, or a Radnor, Pennsylvania address. This is the point that settles the jacket.

First issue jacket
Dune first issue dust jacket rear flap, four-line Chilton Books imprint Philadelphia and New York
Later jacket
Dune later dust jacket rear flap, two-line Chilton Book Company imprint Philadelphia New York London

A first printing book in a later jacket, or a book club book in a first issue jacket, is a “married” copy: check the book and the jacket separately.

5. How to spot the book club edition

The book club edition is the copy most often offered as a first. Its copyright page has no “First Edition” line: “Copyright © 1965 by Frank Herbert” is followed directly by “All Rights Reserved” and Chilton Book Company with Thomas Nelson & Sons. It is bound in red boards (check 2), and its jacket has no price and “Book Club Edition” on the front flap (check 3).

Book club edition
Dune book club edition copyright page with no First Edition line, Chilton Book Company and Thomas Nelson & Sons

First edition, later printing or book club? At a glance

First edition, first printingLater printing or book club
Copyright page“First Edition”, then “All Rights Reserved”; Ambassador Books, TorontoLater printings listed under “First Edition”; the book club has no “First Edition”
BindingLight blue cloth, spine lettered in whiteBook club: red boards lettered in orange
Front flap$5.95$7.95 and an ISBN, or higher; the book club has no price
Rear flapChilton Books, four lines, Philadelphia and New YorkChilton Book Company, two lines, or Radnor, Pennsylvania

The copyright page settles the book and the rear flap settles the jacket. Check both: a first printing in a later jacket, or the reverse, is a married copy, worth less than a first printing in its first issue jacket.

Common questions

My Dune says “First Edition” on the copyright page. Is it a first edition?
Not necessarily. Chilton kept “First Edition” on every printing and listed the reprints under it. It is a first printing only if “All Rights Reserved” follows “First Edition” directly, with no “Second Printing” or later lines.
My jacket is priced $5.95. Is it the first issue?
Not by itself. Some reprint jackets kept the $5.95 price. Check the rear flap: the first issue jacket has the four-line Chilton Books imprint, Philadelphia and New York.
How can I tell the Dune book club edition?
Its copyright page has no “First Edition” line, it is bound in red boards, and its jacket has no price and “Book Club Edition” on the front flap.
What is a married copy?
A book and a jacket that started out on different copies, for example a first printing in a later jacket. Check the copyright page and the rear flap separately; a first printing in its first issue jacket is worth much more than a married copy.
How much is a Dune first edition worth?
It depends on the jacket and the condition. The values at the top of this page are live, from recorded sales of first printings in each condition, unsigned and signed. Dune first edition values.
Can I sell my copy?
Yes. We value the exact copy from recorded sales and make a firm cash offer, free and with no obligation.

Guides and editions mentioned

All images are recreated from photographs of real copies offered for sale; we don’t yet hold a first in the BBourse collection. Printed type and board colours are taken from the photos exactly; lighting, glare and wear are removed so the points read clearly.

Have a first printing? Send a few photos and get a firm offer in 2–3 days. Get an offer.