Laura Ingalls Wilder First Editions

• Little House in the Big Woods — 1932 · Harper & BrothersTrue first is illustrated by Helen Sewell (not Garth Williams), with black-and-white line drawings. Harper & Brothers copyright page; original 1932 date; first-issue dust jacket with the original printed price. The 1953 Harper revised edition with Garth Williams illustrations is a later edition, not the first. US Harper & Brothers first, Sewell-illustrated, 1932. The 1953 Garth Williams edition is a later edition. Harper of this period used a two-letter month-year code on the copyright page and began stating First Edition, so verify the code alongside any First Edition statement. Garth Williams illustrations indicate the 1953-or-later edition. Book-club printings and reprints lack the original code and the first-issue jacket price.
• Farmer Boy — 1933 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell (not Garth Williams). Copyright page states First Edition and carries the Harper two-letter printing code; 1933 date; first-issue dust jacket with the original printed price. US Harper & Brothers first, Sewell-illustrated, 1933. The 1953 Garth Williams edition is later. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; reprints lack the stated First Edition, the original code, and the first-issue jacket price.
• Little House on the Prairie — 1935 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell alone (not Sewell and Boyle, and not Garth Williams). Copyright page states First Edition with the Harper letter-code B-K (February 1935); 1935 date; first-issue dust jacket with the original printed price. US Harper & Brothers first, Helen Sewell-illustrated, 1935. The 1953 Garth Williams edition is later. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; later printings state a higher printing designation instead of First Edition and lack the first-issue jacket price.
• On the Banks of Plum Creek — 1937 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Copyright page states First Edition with the Harper letter-code I-M (September 1937); 1937 date; first-issue dust jacket with the original printed price. Newbery Honor book. US Harper & Brothers first, Sewell and Boyle-illustrated, 1937. The 1953 Garth Williams edition is later. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; later printings lack the stated First Edition and the I-M code.
• By the Shores of Silver Lake — 1939 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Copyright page states First Edition; no date on the title page; publisher's tan cloth stamped in brown; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. A Newbery Honor book. US Harper & Brothers first, illustrated by Sewell and Boyle. The later Garth Williams edition (from 1953 onward) is a re-illustrated reprint, not the first. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition. Book-club copies typically lack the price on the jacket flap.
• The Long Winter — 1940 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Copyright page states First Edition and carries the Harper printing code I-P (I = September, so September 1940); no date on the title page; light tan cloth; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. A Newbery Honor book. US Harper & Brothers first, illustrated by Sewell and Boyle. Later printings show advanced Harper codes (for example G-A, July 1951) and the Garth Williams re-illustration. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; later printings show a later Harper code rather than I-P.
• Little Town on the Prairie — 1941 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Copyright page states First Edition and carries the Harper printing code K-Q (K = October, so October 1941); beige cloth stamped in brown; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. A Newbery Honor book. US Harper & Brothers first, illustrated by Sewell and Boyle. Copies with a 1941 copyright but a later Harper code (for example D-W, April 1947, or M-X, December 1948) are later printings, not the first. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; later printings carry a later Harper code rather than K-Q.
• These Happy Golden Years — 1943 · Harper & BrothersTrue first illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Copyright page states First Edition and carries the Harper printing code A-S (A = January, so January 1943); light tan cloth, spine titled in blue; 14 black-and-white illustrations plus a color frontispiece; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. A Newbery Honor book. US Harper & Brothers first, illustrated by Sewell and Boyle. A second printing followed in May 1943, so a 1943 copyright alone does not establish the first printing; verify the A-S code. Garth Williams art indicates the post-1953 edition; later printings carry a later Harper code rather than A-S and lack the first-issue price.
• On the Way Home — 1962 · Harper & RowUS Harper & Row first. Wilder's 1894 travel diary of the family's move from De Smet, South Dakota, to Mansfield, Missouri, with a setting (connecting narrative) by Rose Wilder Lane. First printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. US Harper & Row first; a non-fiction diary, not part of the novel series. Later printings carry a later-printing statement on the copyright page; book-club copies lack the price on the jacket flap.
• The First Four Years — 1971 · Harper & RowUS Harper & Row first, illustrated by Garth Williams, who is the correct first-edition illustrator for this posthumous title (there is no earlier Sewell/Boyle version). Foreword by Roger Lea MacBride. Copyright page carries the first-printing notation; first-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. Set from Wilder's unfinished pencil manuscript. US Harper & Row first, published February 1971. Unlike the earlier novels, Garth Williams is correct for the true first because this book was only published after Wilder's death. Book-club editions lack the price on the jacket flap; later printings show later-printing notation.
• West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco 1915 — 1974 · Harper & RowHarper & Row first edition, 1974. Look for the Harper & Row imprint on the title page and the first-printing statement/complete number line on the copyright page, and an unclipped first-issue dust jacket. Edited by Roger Lea MacBride, with a historical setting by Margot Patterson Doss; the letters were written by Wilder to Almanzo Wilder from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. US Harper & Row first; a posthumously collected volume of Wilder's 1915 letters. Book-club editions typically lack the printed price on the jacket flap and may show a blind stamp on the rear board; verify against the copyright-page printing statement rather than price alone.

More Children's & YA shelves: Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), Lloyd Alexander, Lois Lowry, Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Wise Brown (illus. Clement Hurd).

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