6 Denis Johnson first editions are documented on this shelf, from Angels (1983) to Tree of Smoke (2007) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Denis Johnson 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 Denis Johnson copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Angels — 1983 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf (Borzoi) first edition, ISBN 0-394-53225-7. Copyright page states FIRST EDITION with a number line descending to 1; Borzoi colophon. Johnson's debut novel, in quarter black cloth over black paper boards. Verify the jacket price is present and unclipped. The US Knopf hardcover (1983) is the true first edition. Johnson's poetry collections predate it as his earliest books (The Man Among the Seals, 1969; Inner Weather, 1976), but Angels is his first novel. Book-club editions lack the FIRST EDITION/number-line statement and the priced jacket.
- Fiskadoro — 1985 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf (Borzoi) first edition, ISBN 0-394-53839-0. Copyright page states FIRST EDITION with a number line descending to 1; Borzoi colophon. Johnson's second novel (221 pp), quarter black cloth over black paper boards with pictorial jacket. Verify the jacket price is present and unclipped. The US Knopf hardcover (1985) is the true first edition. Book-club issues omit the number line and the priced jacket.
- The Stars at Noon — 1986 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf (Borzoi) first edition, ISBN 0-394-53840-4. Copyright page states FIRST EDITION with a number line ending in 1; Borzoi colophon. 181 pp, quarter black cloth over black paper boards, deckled fore edge. Verify the jacket price is present and unclipped. The US Knopf hardcover (1986) is the true first edition. Book-club editions lack the number line and the priced jacket.
- Jesus' Son — 1992 · Farrar, Straus and GirouxFSG first edition, first printing, identified by a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page and the FSG imprint. Octavo, bound in black textured boards with metallic spine lettering, in the standard FSG dust jacket. A small first print run makes the true first hardcover genuinely scarce. Confirm the original jacket price is present and unclipped on the first-printing jacket. The US FSG hardcover of 1992 is the true first edition. Confirmed only as a hardcover first; no separate simultaneous paperback original is documented in reliable sources. The UK and later Picador editions followed. Later FSG and Picador trade paperbacks, including any post-film (1999) movie tie-in cover, are reprints, not firsts. Book-club hardcovers lack the number line and the printed jacket price.
- Already Dead: A California Gothic — 1997 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins first edition, first printing, an octavo of 435 pages with a deckled fore-edge, carrying the complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page along with the HarperCollins imprint (ISBN 0-06-018737-9). The dust jacket has a white spine panel lettered in black; a first-printing jacket carries the original printed price at the top of the front flap and should be present and unclipped. The US HarperCollins hardcover, published in 1997, is the true first edition; a UK Picador/Pan edition followed. Book-club copies are typically printed on thinner stock without the deckled fore-edge, omit the copyright-page number line, and carry a jacket with no printed price.
- Tree of Smoke — 2007 · Farrar, Straus and GirouxCopyright page states "First Edition, 2007" and carries a complete Farrar, Straus and Giroux number line that begins with (includes) the digit 1. The dust jacket retains the original printed retail price on the front flap. First printing of the 2007 US hardcover. The US Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover of 2007 is the true first edition; it won the 2007 National Book Award for Fiction and was a Pulitzer finalist. Confirm by the "First Edition, 2007" statement together with the full number line beginning with 1. Book-club issue is typically smaller in bulk, lacks the stated "First Edition, 2007" and the full number line, often has a blind-stamp to the rear board, and carries an unpriced jacket.
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