2 Pat Conroy first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Great Santini (1976) to The Prince of Tides (1986) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Pat Conroy 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 Pat Conroy copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Great Santini — 1976 · Houghton MifflinFirst printing published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1976; octavo, 536 pp. The reliable first-printing point is a complete descending number line ending in '1' on the copyright page (dealers note an unexplained leading letter 'C'); any copy whose lowest present number is above 1 is a later printing. Most dealers describe the binding as bright orange linen cloth with the title stamped in black on the spine, a…. US Houghton Mifflin (Boston), 1976 is the true first; there is no competing contemporary UK trade edition, so the Boston printing stands as the first edition worldwide. A book-club edition exists; club copies characteristically lack the copyright-page number line and carry a jacket with no flap price (often marked as a book-club issue) and sometimes a blind-stamp to the rear board. The complete number line ending in '1' together with a priced jacket separates the trade first from club and later printings.
The Prince of Tides — 1986 · Houghton Mifflin Company, BostonThe true first was published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, in 1986, 567 pp. The first printing is identified by the complete number line descending to 1 on the copyright page; later printings show a truncated/letter-prefixed line (e.g., "S10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3"). It is bound with a navy blue cloth spine over gray paper-covered boards, the spine titled in gilt and the front cover blind-embossed, and issued in a…. US Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 1986 is the true first and the collected first; the census cites a later UK Bantam edition, which is not independently confirmed here. US precedence is not in doubt. A book-club edition circulates (a major bestseller); standard BCE tells are the blind-stamp to the rear board, a dust jacket lacking the printed price, and no full descending number line on the copyright page.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Pat Murphy, Paul Auster, Paul Bowles, Paul J. McAuley, Pearl S. Buck, Penelope Fitzgerald.

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