First published date

[Erich]

Hello all,

When talking of the first published date I think there can be two different interpretations:
- the first time this book has been published in this publishing house (often mentioned inside the book)
- the first time the book has ever been published (in its original language if I'm holding a translated edition in my hands)

Thanks for clarifying.

[Steve]

The first publication date is for the work as a whole: this information is shared between the different editions on Goodreads. Translations are included as other editions of a book on Goodreads, so it's the original publication date, by the original publisher, in the original language.

Hope that clears it up for you!

[Erich]

Ok, thanks Steve :)

[Richard]

Steve,

When you are referring to "work as a whole" you mean released to the public for all to read?

[Steve]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. If you're looking for a universally-agreed definition of what is meant by 'published', I'm not sure there is one!

What I was trying to explain is that a book may have been published multiple times, for various reasons, e.g.

- same content, new binding: hardback, paperback, leather-bound...
- same content, new cover image (e.g. "Now a major motion picture!")
- revised, updated or corrected content
- same content, new publisher
- same main content, new foreword, afterword, other notes of some kind added
- translation

In each case, these would be separate editions on Goodreads, but then these individual editions are combined. This edition has a title and publication date and various other data specific only to that edition, but there is an original title and an original publication date that is shared between all the editions. These different editions of a book are combined on Goodreads and referred to as a work.

Take this edition of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as an example. This edition has the title of 'The Little Prince' and a publication date of May 15th 2000, but it lists an original title of 'Le Petit Prince' with an original publication date of 1943. Now look at this German edition: Der Kleine Prinz. It has the same original title and original publication date as the other editions, but it's own publication date, publisher, language and other details are all different. Other editions are shown at the top right-hind side of book pages (click on 'More editions' for the full list).

Changing the original publication date, title or any other information in the "Work Settings" section on the book edit page for one edition will change it for all the other editions.