2 Mary Hunter Austin first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Land of Little Rain (1903) to The Land of Journeys' Ending signed first (1924) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Mary Hunter Austin 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 Mary Hunter Austin copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Land of Little Rain — 1903 · Houghton, Mifflin and CompanyFirst edition 1903 Houghton, Mifflin, illustrated by E. Boyd Smith, decorated cloth with the desert/landscape design; first-issue with the 1903 copyright and Riverside Press colophon, no later-printing line. Top edge gilt in the first issue. US Houghton, Mifflin (1903) is the true first—the foundational California/Mojave desert nature classic. The 1903 first issue with the E. Boyd Smith decorations and Riverside Press imprint is the cornerstone; later printings/reprints are 'first thus.'. No book-club edition; later Houghton printings and the many modern reprints (with new introductions) are obvious by added matter and printing statements. The 1903 decorated-cloth first issue is the target.
The Land of Journeys' Ending signed first — 1924 · CenturyThe true first edition is the Century Co. (New York) hardcover of 1924, an octavo of about 459 pages illustrated by John Edwin Jackson with full-page and in-text drawings, chapter headpieces, a frontispiece, and a full-page map, and including a glossary. The first-edition binding is pale camel or yellow cloth over boards lettered and stamped on the spine and front in red and black. A signed first is inscribed or…. The 1924 Century Co. hardcover is the true first edition, preceding all later reprints and the modern University of Illinois Press facsimile. A genuine signed first bears Austin's own signature and retains the 1924 first-printing state. Book-club editions, later reprints, and the modern facsimile reissue reprint the text but are not the 1924 first edition and are far less collectible. Use the points above — the Century Co. imprint, 1924 date, camel/yellow cloth stamped in red and black, and the Jackson illustrations and map — to be certain; see book-club edition vs. first edition.

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