COLLECTOR’S TOOLS
Compare the copies, not just the covers.
Enter evidence from copyright pages, track copies locally and keep condition separate from price. No marketplace valuations are supplied.
Edition comparison tool
Start with one of the site’s source-checked entries, then add facts from the copy in your hands. Add details from the copy in your hands.
Personal collection tracking
With permission, this browser remembers owned titles plus your condition and edition notes. Nothing is sent to an account.
Wish-list export
Export titles marked Want to read in the reading tools as plain text with permanent links. Ratings, notes, progress and browsing history stay private.
Collector terminology
- Edition
- A version defined by publisher, territory, format or textual change; not every reprint is a new edition.
- Impression / printing
- A production run within an edition. The printing line is stronger evidence than a seller’s “first” label.
- First edition
- Meaning depends on territory. Write “first UK edition” or “first US edition” rather than claiming a universal first.
- Proof / ARC
- A pre-publication copy supplied for production, bookselling or review; it is not the published first edition.
- Omnibus / bind-up
- Several existing works issued together. A bind-up does not add new stories merely by collecting them.
- Box set
- Separate volumes packaged together. Verify contained ISBNs and the product ISBN; do not confuse it with an omnibus.
- Signed copy
- A copy bearing a signature. Authentication requires provenance; appearance alone is not proof.
- Condition
- A physical description, not a price. Note jacket, boards, spine, pages, marks and repairs separately.
Source-linked bind-ups, not assumed box sets
Three of Diamonds
The 2004 omnibus contains The Blurred Man, The French Confection and I Know What You Did Last Wednesday.
Permanent entry →Four of Diamonds
The 2008 omnibus contains those three cases plus The Greek Who Stole Christmas. Component stories retain their own entries.
Permanent entry →A publisher-series design or retail box is product data, not a new literary work. It is added only with a stable publisher entry and exact ISBNs.
How to decide whether copies differ
- Start with territory and imprintUK and US editions can share a title while differing in publisher, date, jacket and ISBN.
- Read the printing line“First published” is not enough to prove a first printing. Write down exactly what the copyright page shows.
- Check the textRetitles, anniversary editions, introductions and exclusive stories can change the contents.
- Note provenance separatelyA signature, proof stamp or bookseller description needs its own evidence; appearance alone is not authentication.
Rights and evidence boundary
This fan site does not reproduce first-edition covers, signed pages, proof jackets or advance-reading copies without appropriate rights and provenance. When licensed images or attributable archive entries become available, the rights list will identify them.