first edition

noun

Updated on: 13 May 2018

Definition of first edition

: the copies of a literary work first printed from the same type and issued at the same time; also : a single copy from a first edition

See first edition defined for English-language learners

Examples of first edition in a Sentence

There were many errors in the book's first edition.
She owns a valuable first edition of Huckleberry Finn.

Recent Examples of first edition from the Web

The first edition dust jackets of the books vividly convey the differences between Uris and Hersey’s approaches.

— samantha baskind, Time, "The Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Is About Much More Than Just the Uprising," 18 Apr. 2018
The festival’s focus on creating a power player conference comes as it is set to hold its first edition in the northern city of Lille, and just after the city of Cannes held its first CanneSeries festival on the French Riviera to mixed reviews.

— rhonda richford, The Hollywood Reporter, "Netflix's Reed Hastings, Endemol Shine's Sophie Turner Laing Set for Series Mania," 17 Apr. 2018
In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster’s ‘‘American Dictionary of the English Language’’ was published.

— BostonGlobe.com, "This day in history," 14 Apr. 2018
After three seasons of field work, volunteers with the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II have documented 224 species of breeding birds in the Badger State, including 13 species not found in the first edition of the work two decades ago.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Bird survey finds 224 species breeding in Wisconsin," 6 Jan. 2018
See it all in our first edition of Girl x World: Best Hang Out Spot: The beaches in Hawaii live up to their reputation of being some of the best in the world.

— carrie goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "Just Back From...Maui, Hawaii," 20 June 2017
The New Orleans Tribune's first edition was published on July 21, 1864.

— mike scott, NOLA.com, "He was a New Orleans warrior. His weapon of choice: the press," 24 Apr. 2018
The global nations league also would usurp UEFA’s own version of a similar competition, which begins its first edition later this year.

— tariq panja, New York Times, "FIFA’s Infantino Calls for Rare Emergency Meeting Amid $25 Billion Offer," 23 Apr. 2018
Its first edition was two short stories, one contributed by Virginia and one by Leonard.

— ruth bloomfield, WSJ, "Virginia Woolf’s Onetime Home Listed for $4.62 Million," 19 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'first edition.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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FIRST EDITION Defined for English Language Learners

first edition

noun

Definition of first edition for English Language Learners

: the first set of printed copies of a book; also : a single copy from such a set

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