5 Katherine Anne Porter first editions are documented on this shelf, from Flowering Judas and Other Stories (1930) to Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (1965) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Katherine Anne Porter 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 Katherine Anne Porter copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Flowering Judas and Other Stories — 1930 · Harcourt, Brace & CompanyThe true first is the 1930 Harcourt, Brace issue, a signed limited edition of 600 numbered copies, containing six stories ('Maria Concepcion,' 'Magic,' 'Rope,' 'He,' 'The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,' and the title story). Gray paper-covered boards with brown cloth backstrip, gilt spine titling. Identify it by the limitation leaf stating one of 600 copies, signed by Porter. Porter's first book. Note the 1930…. The 1930 Harcourt limited (600 numbered copies, all signed) is the true first edition. The 1935 Harcourt enlarged edition adds four stories ('Theft,' 'That Tree,' 'The Cracked Looking-Glass,' 'Hacienda') for a ten-story collection titled 'Flowering Judas and Other Stories' and is first-thus, not the true first. A later Modern Library issue (1940) is a separate reprint. The 1930 issue is a signed numbered limited with no book-club state. Do not confuse the more common 1935 enlarged Harcourt trade edition, or the still later Modern Library reprint, with the scarce 1930 limited first.
- Noon Wine — 1937 · Schuman'sThe entire edition is a signed limited issue: 250 numbered copies, every copy signed by Porter, with the limitation and number appearing in the book — there was no separate trade issue, so a correct copy is by definition numbered and signed. Copies are royal octavo (roughly 10-the printed price x 6-the printed price inches), bound in patterned cloth over boards with printed paper labels mounted to the spine and…. Schuman's (Detroit), 1937, is the true first and the first separate/book appearance of the text — US-only, with no British edition and no original-language question. The trap to flag is the collected text: Noon Wine was gathered with 'Old Mortality' and the title story in Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels (Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1939), which is a genuine and collected first edition of THAT collection…. No book-club issue exists or could exist for the Schuman's edition — the whole printing was 250 numbered, signed copies with no trade issue. The reprint trap runs through the collection instead: the 1939 Harcourt, Brace Pale Horse, Pale Rider and its many later printings, Modern Library and paperback issues carry the text but are not the first separate edition. Any unnumbered, unsigned copy purporting to be the….
- Pale Horse, Pale Rider — 1939 · Harcourt, Brace & CompanyFirst American trade edition, Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1939. Octavo in sage green cloth, titles stamped in black on spine and front cover, yellow top stain; gathers three short novels (Old Mortality, Noon Wine, and the title novel Pale Horse, Pale Rider); 'first edition' stated on the copyright page; first-issue dust jacket with the original printed flap price. Author-inscribed and presentation copies exist but…. The US Harcourt, Brace edition is the true first; the UK Cape edition of 1939 follows. The previously claimed signed limited issue of 175 copies could not be confirmed in any reliable source and has been removed; only ordinary inscribed copies are documented. The trade first carries the stated 'first edition' and the priced first-issue jacket. Later printings and reprint editions (including Modern Library) lack the original priced jacket; book-club style copies typically drop the flap price and may bear a blind-stamp.
- Ship of Fools — 1962 · Atlantic-Little, BrownIssued as 'An Atlantic Monthly Press Book' by Little, Brown; 'first edition' stated on the copyright page; yellow cloth boards with red titling to spine and a facsimile signature on the front board; 497 pp.; first-issue dust jacket carrying the original price. Porter's only novel. US Atlantic-Little, Brown is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition (1962) follows. A signed limited edition was also issued and is a parallel premium state. Because the book was a major bestseller, book-club copies are common: a 'Book Club Edition' notation on the jacket flap, no printed jacket price, and a blind-stamp or gutter dot on the rear board. The stated 'first edition' plus the price-intact first-issue jacket is the tell.
- Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter — 1965 · Harcourt, Brace & WorldHarcourt, Brace & World first edition is identified by the publisher's first-edition letter code on the copyright page, in first-issue cloth and jacket. Won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A Jonathan Cape (London) edition appeared in 1964. The Jonathan Cape UK edition of 1964 precedes the US printing and is the true world first. However, the US Harcourt, Brace & World 1965 edition adds four previously uncollected stories and a preface by Porter, and is the edition for which the Pulitzer was awarded, so collectors distinguish the two by which text they want. Book-club copies may carry a blind-stamp; later printings alter the copyright-page letter code. Confirm the first state by the unbroken first-edition letter code.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Katherine Mansfield, Kathy Acker, Kelly Link, Ken Follett, Ken Kesey, Kingsley Amis.
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