5 Edith Wharton first editions are documented on this shelf, from The House of Mirth (1905) to The Glimpses of the Moon (1922) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Edith Wharton 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 Edith Wharton copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The House of Mirth — 1905 · Charles Scribner's Sons, New YorkFirst issue: 'Published October, 1905' on the copyright page with the Scribner seal; no advertisements at the rear (later printings add rear ads); red ribbed cloth lettered in gilt; complete with the A. B. Wenzell frontispiece and full set of plates. Wharton bibliography reference Garrison A12.I.a. First-issue dust jacket extremely scarce. True US first; the US Scribner edition precedes the UK Macmillan edition of 1905. The Wenzell illustration plates should be present and complete. No book club edition. Later printings add advertisements at the rear and later month notices.
- Ethan Frome — 1911 · Charles Scribner's Sons, New YorkFirst issue: copyright page reads 'Published September, 1911' as called for, with the Scribner seal. The principal first-issue point is the word 'wearily' in perfect, unbroken type on page 135 (the type later broke); red cloth lettered in gilt. Wharton bibliography reference Garrison A14. First-issue dust jacket very scarce. True US first; the US Scribner edition precedes the UK Macmillan edition of 1911. No book club edition. Later printings show the broken type on page 135 and later notices.
- The Custom of the Country — 1913 · Charles Scribner's Sons, New YorkFirst issue: 'Published October, 1913' on the copyright page with the Scribner seal; octavo of 594 pages in red cloth lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Wharton bibliography reference Garrison A15. First-issue dust jacket extremely scarce. True US first; the US Scribner edition precedes the UK Macmillan edition of 1913. No book club edition. Later printings note later months.
- The Age of Innocence — 1920 · D. Appleton and CompanyTitle page dated in Roman numerals MCMXX, copyright 1920. The definitive first-printing point is a parenthetical (1) printed before THE END on the last page of text, Appleton's house code for the first printing. A second, corroborating point appears on page 186, line 7: in first printings the wedding-service line reads 'Forasmuch as it hath please Almighty God'; later printings (as early as the fourth) change it…. Appleton issued the book in New York and London in October 1920. Both were the same publisher in the same year; collectors treat the New York issue with the last-page (1) code as the first. No clear precedence point separates the two beyond the (1) code itself. Later Appleton printings carry a higher last-page code or none, and show the revised page 186 wording. Grosset & Dunlap and book-club reprints lack the (1) code and are clearly later.
- The Glimpses of the Moon — 1922 · D. Appleton and Company, New YorkFirst issue: publisher's code '(1)' at the foot of the last page of text as called for, with no additional printings noted on the copyright page; octavo, 364 pages plus four pages of ads; blue cloth with gilt-stamped border on front and gilt lettering on front and spine. First-issue color pictorial dust jacket with Appleton ads on the verso. True US first; the US Appleton edition precedes the UK Appleton (London) edition of 1922. No book club edition. Later printings carry higher Appleton number codes on the last page of text.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Edna Ferber, Edna Lewis, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Edwidge Danticat, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Gaskell.
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