# Is "A Cool Million" by Nathanael West a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Cool Million by Nathanael West (Covici-Friede, 1934) is identified by: True first is Covici-Friede (New York), 1934 (full title A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin); first edition, first printing. US Covici-Friede (1934) is the true first, preceding the first UK/English edition — Neville Spearman (London, 1954) — by two decades; the Spearman issue is in red boards lettered white on the spine.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is Covici-Friede (New York), 1934 (full title A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin); first edition, first printing
- Publisher's binding is tan cloth lettered in green on the front board and spine, in an orange pictorial dust jacket designed by William Cotton (wraparound image of a youth holding a gun, lettered in black), priced at the flap
- A scarce variant is bound in green cloth with a horizontal rule in place of the spine imprint (White records only two such copies)
- Cited in Bruccoli & Clark I:411, White 4, Hanna 3738; the printing is reported at roughly 3,000 copies
- Publisher imprint reads Covici-Friede
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathanael West |
| Publisher | Covici-Friede |
| Year | 1934 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is Covici-Friede (New York), 1934 (full title A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin); first edition, first printing |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first is Covici-Friede (New York), 1934 (full title A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin); first edition, first printing. Publisher's binding is tan cloth lettered in green on the front board and spine, in an orange pictorial dust jacket designed by William Cotton (wraparound image of a youth holding a gun, lettered in black), priced at the flap. A scarce variant is bound in green cloth with a horizontal rule in place of the spine imprint (White records only two such copies). Cited in Bruccoli & Clark I:411, White 4, Hanna 3738; the printing is reported at roughly 3,000 copies.

## Is this the true first?
US Covici-Friede (1934) is the true first, preceding the first UK/English edition — Neville Spearman (London, 1954) — by two decades; the Spearman issue is in red boards lettered white on the spine. Both are collected, with Covici-Friede the priority.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented in sources consulted; later combined-title reissues (with Miss Lonelyhearts) and New Directions printings are distinct from the 1934 Covici-Friede first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Cool Million* by Nathanael West a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-cool-million
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.