2 Paula Fox first editions are documented on this shelf, from Desperate Characters (1970) to The Slave Dancer (1973) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Paula Fox 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 Paula Fox copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Desperate Characters — 1970 · Harcourt, Brace & WorldThe true first is the US Harcourt, Brace & World edition of 1970 (156 pp.), quarter-bound in orange/rust cloth spine over black paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in black and stamped/decorated in yellow, with the dust jacket present and priced at the front flap. The first printing states 'First edition' on the copyright page with no number line — the Harcourt, Brace & World house point in force before the…. US Harcourt, Brace & World (1970) precedes the UK edition. A UK issue followed under Macmillan, London (ISBN 0-333-12072-8); the US Harcourt printing is the collected true first. The 1999 W. W. Norton reissue carrying a Jonathan Franzen introduction is a later 'first thus,' not the first edition. No book-club printing is documented for the first here. Later reprints include a Harcourt Brace Jovanovich paperback and the 1999 Norton edition (new introduction) — reprints / 'first thus,' not firsts.
The Slave Dancer — 1973 · Bradbury PressFirst edition published 1973 by Bradbury Press, Scarsdale, New York, with illustrations by Eros Keith. The first printing states First Printing on the copyright page. Bound in cloth with the author's initials blind-stamped on the front cover. US true first edition (Bradbury Press, 1973). Awarded the Newbery Medal in 1974. Later printings revise or drop the First Printing statement; book-club editions typically lack a printed jacket price.

More Children's & YA shelves: Philip Pullman, Randolph Caldecott, Richard Peck, Rick Riordan, Roald Dahl, Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).

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