3 Kathleen E. Woodiwiss first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Flame and the Flower (1972) to Shanna (1977). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Kathleen E. Woodiwiss 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 Kathleen E. Woodiwiss copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Flame and the Flower — 1972 · Avon BooksPaperback original, not a hardcover, and widely cited as the first full-length single-title historical romance issued first in paperback. Avon mass-market original published April 1972 with an initial print run of about 500,000 copies. A true first printing shows no statement of a later printing on the copyright page (no second printing or higher number). Because the print run was large, the scarce element is a…. No US hardcover first edition exists; the 1972 Avon paperback original is the true first and precedes all UK and later editions. The later Avon reissues and the much later William Morrow hardcover are first thus only. Not a book-club title in the usual sense; there is no Book-of-the-Month or Doubleday hardcover. Distinguish the true first by the clean copyright page with no later-printing statement; later Avon printings list higher printing numbers. Any hardcover is a much later edition.
- The Wolf and the Dove — 1974 · Avon BooksAvon mass-market paperback original (Woodiwiss's second novel, a Norman-conquest historical). The first Avon printing carries the original cover price and a copyright page with no later-printing statement. Identify the first printing by the absence of any 'Nth printing' line and the period Avon spine logo; later printings are numbered. The paperback original is the true first; there was no simultaneous hardcover. It precedes all reissues. No book-club hardcover. Later Avon printings show elevated cover prices and explicit printing statements (collectors report runs well into the dozens of printings). Any hardcover binding seen in the market is a later or rebound copy, not the first.
- Shanna — 1977 · Avon BooksAvon mass-market paperback original, one of the early 'big book' Avon romance originals. The first printing is identified by the original cover price and a clean copyright page with no later-printing line. The much-cited fold-out island map insert is associated with the title but is documented chiefly in later printings, so its presence is not a reliable first-printing point. The 1977 Avon paperback original is the true first; the mass-market-original format is itself the defining point, consistent with Woodiwiss building the paperback-original romance market. Distinguish the first printing by the original cover price and absence of a numbered printing line. Hardcover copies do appear in the trade, but they are uncommon and at least some are described by dealers as possible rebinds or later issues rather than a true hardcover first, so a hardcover should not be assumed to precede the paperback.
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