3 Conrad Richter first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Sea of Grass (1937) to The Town (1950) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Conrad Richter title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Conrad Richter copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Sea of Grass — 1937 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page and carries the Borzoi/Knopf colophon. Brown buckram boards with stencil design by W. A. Dwiggins; first-issue priced dust jacket. New Mexico cattle-versus-homesteader classic; filmed in 1947. A separate signed presentation issue of 250 copies was distributed as a publisher's Christmas gift in 1937. US Knopf 1937 is the true first. Movie-tie-in printings and later Knopf reprints are separate, later states. The stated 'FIRST EDITION,' Borzoi colophon, and priced first-issue jacket distinguish the trade first. Book-club copies omit the statement, carry an unpriced jacket, and bear a blind stamp on the rear board.
- The Fields — 1946 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst printings state "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, consistent with Knopf's practice from about 1933-34 onward; the Borzoi device and the "This is a Borzoi Book" line are house furniture on all Knopf titles and are not first-printing points. The decisive trap on this title is Knopf's before-publication printings: copies whose copyright page records a second printing before publication are SECOND…. US-only first: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, published 28 March 1946; no UK edition precedes it in the records consulted (the Transworld British paperback dates only to 1958). Written in English, so no original-language precedence question arises. This is the middle volume of the Awakening Land trilogy, standing between The Trees (Knopf, 1940) and The Town (Knopf, 1950). The main "first thus" trap is the omnibus: The Awakening Land, collecting all three novels in one volume, was first issued by Knopf in September 1966 and is not a first of The Fields. The likeliest misidentification, however, is the before-publication second printing described above, which shares the 1946 date and the Knopf imprint and is distinguished only by the copyright-page wording. No Knopf book-club….
- The Town — 1950 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page with the Borzoi colophon. Red cloth, blue lettering and grey decoration to front board and spine, grey top stain; first-issue priced dust jacket designed by John O'Hara Cosgrave II. Third volume of The Awakening Land trilogy; won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, so the first-issue jacket predates any Pulitzer notice. US Knopf 1950 is the true first. Jackets advertising the Pulitzer Prize belong to later printings. Book-club editions omit the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, carry a Pulitzer-free but unpriced jacket, and show a blind stamp on the rear board.
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