# Is "And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic" by Randy Shilts a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts (St. Martin's Press, 1987) is identified by: True first is New York: St. US St.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is New York: St
- Martin's Press, 1987; pp. xxiii + 630
- First printing is identified by the words 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page together with a complete number line ending in 1
- Bound in quarter green cloth over cream/pale paper-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt, and issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap (the jacket spine is prone to fading from orange toward yellow)
- Publisher imprint reads St. Martin's Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Randy Shilts |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
| Year | 1987 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is New York: St |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first is New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987; pp. xxiii + 630. First printing is identified by the words 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page together with a complete number line ending in 1. Bound in quarter green cloth over cream/pale paper-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt, and issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap (the jacket spine is prone to fading from orange toward yellow).

## Is this the true first?
US St. Martin's Press 1987 is the true first edition; Shilts was a San Francisco Chronicle journalist and the book is a US-origin AIDS-journalism landmark, with no earlier foreign edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Distinguish from later St. Martin's printings (the 'First Edition' statement is dropped and/or the number line no longer ends in 1) and from the 20th-anniversary paperback reissue; no prominent separate period book-club hardcover is documented.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic* by Randy Shilts a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/and-the-band-played-on-politics-people-and-the-aids-epidemic
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.