Sorry Serkanner. I forgot about this thread until tonight. Funny though, it feels like I posted here just a day or two ago. I guess that is what age does to you, huh?
AFAI have been able to learn, there were nine printings in Chilton's original edition, not counting the numerous BCE's, which they also ran. Here is how the first nine printings of the first edition of Dune are marked:
1: 1965 (blue boards) (Philadelphia, Toronto Ambassador Books) $5.95
2: April 1968 (green boards) $5.95
3: November 1970 (red boards) (Philadephia, Ontario) $5.95
4: Dec 1972 (red boards)
5: 567890 432109876 $7.95 (red boards)
6: 67890 43210987 $7.95 (red boards) (Radnor PA, Don Mills)
7: 7890 43210987 $7.95 (Radnor PA)
8: 890 43210 $10.95
9: 9012345 7654321 $12.95
I have seen many of these, but not all (I have not seen 2, 4 or 8 ). Some of the notes come from someone else I met on line who told me that they had them all, and e-mailed me pictures, so the content in the list above looks accurate to me. I'm trying to find copies of some of those that I have not seen to verify all the info here, and if I ever do, Ill update this post. I have confirmed with Chilton's historian (who is no longer at that company) and with a historian at Reed Elsevier, who now owns Chilton's rights from 1985 back, that there are only nine printings of the first edition by Chilton. The first four printings of Dune are explicitly stated. For example, the fourth printing reads "Fourth printing, December 1972." The 5th retains "First Edition" language, but also has the number line.
Everything else by Chilton is a BCE. You will know these books right away as the feel significantly lighter than they should feel for a book of that bulk.
I have a matrix of cover measurements around here somewhere, but I cannot locate it.
If you are interested in doing a little sleuthing, and especially if you have a Polish friend, check out
this site:
I should have added this to the secondary sources list before tonight, but I forgot. Anyway, many editions are noted there, and if you stare at it long enough, you should figure out how to identify them based on photos alone. A guy named Kwisatz on DN maintains this site, IIRC, but I have not seen him around for some time. If you have questions about the site, contact him.
Another user at T(A)U, Tanzeelat, has the big commercial bibliography by a guy named Levack. That resource has photos of all editions and printings that the bibliographer was able to identify (and actually lay his hands on), so if you have a specific question you may want to run it by him. Here is a link to the Levack book:
Omphalos on T(A)U wrote:Levack, Daniel (with annotations by Willard, Mark),
Dune Master: A Frank Herbert Bibliography. 1988, Meckler Publishing, Westport, Conn. ISBN not printed on item. (This is a commercial bibliography, and is reviewed
here).
It is available in some large university libraries (here in the US, of course) but you may be able to locate one where you are if you want to see it for yourself. Its very expensive otherwise.
Stephensen-Payne in his bibliography lists only four editions, and has no page marking data at all. Perhaps you original information about the number of printings by Chilton came from this source? If you are interested, I can give you Phil Stephensen-Payne's e-mail address and you can send him a note to ask if he has any more detailed information about original printings since he published in the 1980's. He may, and I have not asked him yet.
Based on what I see there, it looks to me like your green library re-bind is in fact a first/first, though I am confused why it does not say "First Printing," as the second, third and fourth all do. Though it would have little value on the collector's market (at least relatively speaking - It would fetch more than $50 I think, while the BCE is probably valueless in that state), it is what it is to us, and that makes it a treasure. The BCE is not really worthy of fretting over at all, IMHO, but I'm glad that you have it if you are too.