3 Chris Van Allsburg first editions are documented on this shelf, from Jumanji (1981) to The Polar Express (1985) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Chris Van Allsburg title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Chris Van Allsburg copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Jumanji — 1981 · Houghton MifflinFirst printing has the publication date on the title page and a full number line down to 1 on the copyright page, bound in green cloth with copper/gold spine titling; first-state jacket WITHOUT the Caldecott Medal seal, oblong large format, with the price present on the flap. US Houghton Mifflin 1981 is the true first; Van Allsburg won the 1982 Caldecott Medal, so a seal-free first-state jacket is the point. (The Polar Express is already in the live index; this is a distinct earlier title.). Later printings lack the full number line down to 1; book-club copies carry a blind-stamp and are unpriced. Jackets bearing the gold Caldecott seal are later states.
- The Mysteries of Harris Burdick — 1984 · Houghton MifflinFirst printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page; later printings drop the low numbers (copies explicitly catalogued as 'First Edition; Sixth Printing' circulate, so the number line must be read, not assumed). Slim quarto (approx. 28 cm), [32] pp., with 13 full-page illustrations. Bound in salmon cloth — described by some dealers as orange, the same cloth under differing…. US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984 is the true first and is the edition collected. A UK edition was published by Andersen Press (ISBN 0862641012); it does not precede the US issue, and its exact date was not independently confirmed here, so it should not be described as simultaneous without further evidence. Collect the Houghton Mifflin issue. No book-club edition documented in the sources consulted for this title. The dominant trap is not a club edition but later Houghton Mifflin printings retaining the 1984 date and the salmon cloth while differing only in the number line — read the line. Distinct from the 1996 'Portfolio Edition' (loose plates) and the 2011 'Chronicles of Harris Burdick', both of which are separate later publications and not states….
- The Polar Express — 1985 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition: Houghton Mifflin 1985; first-issue dust jacket WITHOUT the Caldecott Medal (won 1986), with its printed price (some early at the printed price). Copyright page has the full number line ending in 1; jacket carries no medal seal. US Houghton Mifflin is the true first. The pre-Caldecott jacket (no gold medal) plus the complete number line ending in 1 mark the true first; relaunch jackets added the medal after 1986. Book-club editions add the Caldecott Medal, lack the jacket price, are smaller, and carry a board blind-stamp; later printings advance the number line.
More Children's & YA shelves: Christopher Paolini, Christopher Paul Curtis, Dr. Seuss, E. B. White (illus. Garth Williams), E. Nesbit, E.L. Konigsburg.
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