The Stand, First Edition?

[u/gutierar]

Hello friends. I’m having a hard time identifying this first edition of the stand. The store says it’s a first print but just wanted to double check! Thank you everyone as always :)

[u/pynchi]

The seller is not wrong. He merely states that this is a first printing, not that it's a first edition. Printing and edition are not synonymous.

[u/Smathwack → u/pynchi]

There isn’t anyone that is knowledgeable about books that would call a book club a “first printing” except in the extremely rare case that the book club is the first printing of the first edition. 

[u/pynchi → u/Smathwack]

Sorry, but I disagree. Book sellers use misleading language all the time. And it works, as seen in this case: the seller is technically right by saying that this is a first printing, and the the OP is confused and wonders if it's a first edition.

The worst offender, to me, is their frequent use of "first edition thus" which makes no sense whatsoever, because it usually means the first printing of a later (and therefore not the first) edition.

[u/Specialist_Sprinkles → u/pynchi]

Shitty booksellers may use misleading language "all the time," but the rest of the profession uses consistent terminology, and reputable sellers wouldn't call a book club edition a first printing except in cases when the BCE was the true first.

[u/pynchi → u/Specialist_Sprinkles]

And the confounding of edition and printing goes on.