A customer came to me in 2008 to show off his copy of THE SAND
PEBBLES. Alas, I had to tell him it was a book club. "But," he
said, "it says FIRST EDITION." "Yes," I replied, "I know - but
it lies. Welcome to the world of book collecting." This is what
is known as a false first. Another current well known example is
THE DA VINCI CODE. I went on the 'net and bought a copy of THE
SAND PEBBLES for the customer. When it arrived I gasped: "Ah-
HA". It was different from the copy in my collection. What's
going on here ? For those who might be unfamiliar with this book
it was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1962 and
then went on to become a spectacular best seller in 1963 - being
on the New York Times best seller list for seven months. In 1966
it was made into a movie, nominated for eight academy awards,
and considered one of the high points of the movie career of
Steve McQueen. On Amazon it has sixteen reviews - all of which
award it five out of five stars. Pictured on the right are two
copies of TH