First edition (idea)

Electronic publishing is completely irrelevant to the "first edition" thing.

First editions usually have more printer's errors than subsequent editions; when I saw David Eggers speak this winter, he waved his copy of that little memoir of his and muttered about having something like ten corrections per page pencilled into the margins. It's not about the quality of the text qua text at all.

The value of first editions is something like fetish value; it's the same impulse that drives me to treasure my original pressing of Lizard by King Crimson. I have a CD to listen to; that's not the point. The point is the artifact. It's a beautiful artifact: I just plain damn well like it.

A book is not necessarily just the words in the book. It's the whole artifact. Some people love books. I mean, they really love them. They don't have this stylish "geek" contempt for the written word and for anything else of value; they just love books. It's not utilitarian or pragmatic at all. It goes beyond the practical value of books as reference or entertainment (I'm shocked and horrified by the Great Grand E2 Book Lotto: How could you do that? How could you deliver your books into the hands of strangers? Don't you love them?!)

Remember when Jimi sang, "Music, sweet music, I wish I could caress..."? That's the best explanation I've seen. If that doesn't make sense to you, you're on a different wavelength. Not that there's anything wrong with that.