2 Oliver La Farge first editions are documented on this shelf, from Laughing Boy (1929) to Laughing Boy signed first (1929) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Oliver La Farge 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 Oliver La Farge copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Laughing Boy — 1929 · Houghton Mifflin CompanyFirst printing has 1929 on both the title page and the copyright page, no mention of any prize anywhere in the book, and the Riverside Press pan-and-dolphin colophon printed in red rather than black. Decorated cloth with a rust-red top stain, in a first-issue jacket. US Houghton Mifflin 1929 is the true first edition. Some copies carry a laid-in author signature or an inscription, but these are signed trade copies, not a distinct limited issue. Grosset & Dunlap reprints and later Houghton Mifflin printings are clearly marked; later printings also reference the Pulitzer Prize. No major book-club edition concern.
Laughing Boy signed first — 1929 · Houghton MifflinThe true first edition, published by Houghton Mifflin in Boston in 1929, has matching 1929 dates on both the title page and the copyright page and no mention of any prize. It is bound in yellow cloth lettered in brown ink on the spine and front board, with a rust-brown top stain. The first-issue dust jacket carries only two paragraphs of text on the front flap (later-issue jackets carry four) and makes no…. The true first is the 1929 Houghton Mifflin edition, Boston, identified by matching 1929 title-page and copyright-page dates and the first-issue two-paragraph front flap; later jacket states add Pulitzer wording. Book-club editions and later printings reprint the text but are not the first edition and are far less collectible. One of the more straightforward American houses to authenticate. Use the points above to be certain — see book-club edition vs. first edition.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Orson Scott Card, Oscar Wilde, Pat Cadigan, Pat Conroy, Pat Murphy, Paul Auster.

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