Is My Across the Wide Missouri a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Two issues of the 1947 first edition exist and the census note missed the senior one
• (a) Signed limited issue: 265 numbered copies signed by DeVoto, bound in red cloth with a morocco spine label, front and rear boards stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, illustrated map endpapers, in the publisher's plain acetate jacket — this issue is documented by a single dealer listing and should be confirmed against a second source before being relied on
• (b) Trade issue: tan/wheat cloth (one dealer describes the same binding as off-white linen with red lettering across a beige band repeated on the spine) lettered in red on front board and spine; map of the fur-trade country on endpapers and pastedowns; collation [7], viii-xxvii, [1], 1-483, [1]; large octavo; pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap
• The printing test is Houghton Mifflin's house rule for the period, on which three independent publisher guides agree: the year appears in Arabic numerals on the title page of first printings and is dropped or altered on subsequent printings
• The copyright-page "first printing" statement and the number row are later HM conventions and should not be expected on a 1947 book
• REFUTED: no source supports the census claim that later printings "degrade" the Miller/Bodmer color plates

How Houghton Mifflin Company marked a first edition

• Merger-lineage window (Hurd & Houghton 1864 → Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1878–1880 → Houghton, Mifflin & Co. from 1880): still no 'First Edition' wording; identify by title-page date matching the copyright date, by the earli…
• Late-19th to mid-20th century (c.1880s–1950s): the operative tell is the title page. Houghton Mifflin almost invariably printed the year of first publication, in Arabic numerals, on the title page of a first printing and…

Full Houghton Mifflin Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1947 is the true first (Pulitzer Prize for History 1948; Bancroft Prize). The first UK edition is Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1948 — a year later, therefore a reprint rather than a competing first, and collected only as the first British appearance. Within the 1947 first edition the signed limited issue of 265 numbered copies is the senior issue and the trade issue is the ordinary collected first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Houghton Mifflin printings and the 1964, 1987 and 1998 HM / Mariner reissues are reprints; American Legacy Press (New York, 1981, distributed by Crown Publishers) is a reprint-house issue. A quick shelf tell: reset later printings run about 450-451 pp. against the first's 483 pp.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Across the Wide Missouri a first edition?

A first edition of Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto (Houghton Mifflin Company) is identified by: Two issues of the 1947 first edition exist and the census note missed the senior one.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1947 is the true first (Pulitzer Prize for History 1948; Bancroft Prize).

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Later Houghton Mifflin printings and the 1964, 1987 and 1998 HM / Mariner reissues are reprints; American Legacy Press (New York, 1981, distributed by Crown Publishers) is a reprint-house issue. A quick shelf tell: reset later printings run about 450-451 pp. against the first's 483 pp.

I have a first edition of Across the Wide Missouri — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.