# Is "A Lamp for Nightfall" by Erskine Caldwell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Lamp for Nightfall by Erskine Caldwell (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1952) is identified by: First edition, first printing, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1952. US edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1952
- Copyright page states First Edition
- 211 pp., hardcover in dust jacket
- The novel was written roughly two decades earlier and held unpublished until this 1952 appearance
- Publisher imprint reads Duell, Sloan and Pearce
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erskine Caldwell |
| Publisher | Duell, Sloan and Pearce |
| Year | 1952 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1952 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1952. Copyright page states First Edition; 211 pp., hardcover in dust jacket. The novel was written roughly two decades earlier and held unpublished until this 1952 appearance.

## Is this the true first?
US edition is the true first. A UK edition followed from Heinemann in 1953.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings drop the First Edition statement. A Fawcett Gold Medal and later Signet paperback followed and are not the first; confirm the hardcover Duell, Sloan and Pearce issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Lamp for Nightfall* by Erskine Caldwell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-lamp-for-nightfall
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.