2 David Foster Wallace first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Broom of the System (1987) to Infinite Jest (1996) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that David Foster Wallace 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 David Foster Wallace copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Broom of the System — 1987 · VikingHardcover bound in light blue paper-covered boards over black spine cloth, stamped on the spine in metallic blue; dust jacket carries the printed price; number line present down to 1. The cloth print run was roughly 1,300 copies, with a simultaneous trade paperback in pictorial wraps. Wallace's debut novel. The cloth hardcover is the desirable true first; the simultaneous Viking trade paperback in pictorial wraps is also a first printing but far less sought after. The US edition is the first; no foreign precedence issue. No book-club edition (the run was small and literary). The common later state is the later paperback reprint under a different imprint, plainly a different publisher and later.
Infinite Jest — 1996 · Little, Brown and CompanyFirst printing: the copyright page states 'First Edition' and carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ending in 1. Bound in quarter blue cloth over blue paper-covered boards with the spine stamped in silver. The first-issue dust jacket (Steve Snider's blue sky-and-clouds design) is a priced, unclipped jacket with the printed price present at the front flap; on the rear panel the last of the review…. The US Little, Brown (Boston) 1996 first printing is the true first; the UK Abacus edition (1997) follows (US precedes UK). The advance state is the 'Special Galleys' uncorrected proof, issued in pictorial wrappers that reproduce the published sky-and-clouds cover with 'Special Galleys Signed by the Author' printed at the foot; roughly 1,000 were signed by Wallace (often with a small smiley-face) and it is…. Printing state is told by the number line: a line no longer ending in '1' (and the absence of the stated 'First Edition') indicates a later printing. The jacket art is unchanged across printings, so it does not distinguish states — use the copyright page. Any later book-club or reprint issue will be unpriced and will lack the full number line.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: David Goodis, David Mitchell, Denis Johnson, D.H. Lawrence, Diana Gabaldon, Don DeLillo.

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