# Is "Afternoons in Mid-America" by Erskine Caldwell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Afternoons in Mid-America by Erskine Caldwell (Dodd, Mead, 1976) is identified by: First edition, first printing, issued in cloth by Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976, under the full title Afternoons in Mid-America: Observations and Impressions (ISBN 0396073484). US first edition, Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, issued in cloth by Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976, under the full title Afternoons in Mid-America: Observations and Impressions (ISBN 0396073484)
- A volume of travel impressions gathered on Erskine and Virginia Caldwell's drive through the middle of the country, illustrated with photographs; the first printing is complete in cloth with the pictorial dust jacket, the printed jacket price present on the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Dodd, Mead
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erskine Caldwell |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead |
| Year | 1976 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, issued in cloth by Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976, under the full title Afternoons in Mid-America: Observations… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, issued in cloth by Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976, under the full title Afternoons in Mid-America: Observations and Impressions (ISBN 0396073484). A volume of travel impressions gathered on Erskine and Virginia Caldwell's drive through the middle of the country, illustrated with photographs; the first printing is complete in cloth with the pictorial dust jacket, the printed jacket price present on the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
US first edition, Dodd, Mead, New York, 1976. No prior or competing edition precedes it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings are stated as such on the copyright page; the true first shows no later-printing statement. Confirm the full subtitle Observations and Impressions and the cloth binding with dust jacket.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Afternoons in Mid-America* by Erskine Caldwell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/afternoons-in-mid-america
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.