Robert A. Caro First Editions

• The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York — 1974 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, first printing: Knopf, 1974, with 'FIRST EDITION' stated on the copyright page and the Borzoi colophon; no number line below the statement. First-issue dust jacket with its printed price. Thick single volume (~1,200+ pp). US Knopf 1974 is the true first. Won the 1975 Pulitzer; post-Pulitzer and later printings are common. Signed Caro firsts carry strong premiums. The 'FIRST EDITION' statement plus Borzoi colophon and the printed price jacket are the key points. Book club editions lack the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, are printed on thinner paper to reduce bulk, have a blind board stamp, and carry unpriced jackets.
• The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 1) — 1982 · Alfred A. KnopfCloth-backed boards with the Borzoi colophon; 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page (dated 1982, published November 12, 1982). Collates roughly xxiii plus 882 pages with a section of photographic plates. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap, and the earliest jackets predate the award announcements, so no award band or overprint appears. US Knopf (New York) is the true first, 1982; it won the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction and was a National Book Award finalist. Book-of-the-Month Club copies lack the 'First Edition' statement, carry a small blind-stamp (dot) to the rear board, and their jackets lack the printed price on the flap. BOMC copies are also physically lighter with thinner boards than the Knopf trade first.
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power — 1982 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with the Borzoi colophon; issued in a priced dust jacket. Knopf at this date did not yet carry a number line, so identification rests on the stated 'First Edition.' Volume 1 of the LBJ series, published November 1982. US true first edition (Knopf); the US edition precedes. Book club editions exist and are distinguished by the absence of a jacket price and a blind-stamped dimple to the rear board, often on lighter bulk.
• Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 2) — 1990 · Alfred A. KnopfPublished by Alfred A. Knopf (Borzoi Books), New York, 1990; octavo, xxxiv + 506 pages, illustrated with a section of photographs. Bound in black cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and cover. The copyright page states 'First Edition' with the Borzoi colophon and carries no later-printing line. Issued in a predominantly white first-state dust jacket with the printed price present on the flap (unclipped). US Knopf true first. The book-club issue lacks the stated 'First Edition' line and the printed jacket price, and is typically a lighter, smaller volume than the Knopf trade first.
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent — 1990 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page with the Borzoi colophon and a full number line descending to 1; 506 pages including Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Bound in black cloth stamped in gilt on the spine and front cover, with gray endpapers. The white dust jacket should carry the printed price on the front flap (unclipped preferred). Volume 2 of the LBJ series. US true first edition (Knopf, 1990); the US edition precedes. Book club editions are distinguished by the absence of a printed jacket price and a blind-stamped dimple to the rear board, and typically by lighter, thinner boards.
• Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 3) — 2002 · Alfred A. KnopfThick octavo of roughly xxiv plus 1167 pages, bound in black cloth with the title stamped in gilt on the spine and the Borzoi colophon present; the copyright page carries the stated 'First Edition' with the Knopf Borzoi device. The first-state pictorial dust jacket carries the retail price on the front flap (present and not clipped on a first-state copy, though the amount is immaterial to the point). US Alfred A. Knopf, 2002, is the true first. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography (2003) and the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2002). Confirm the stated 'First Edition' with the Borzoi colophon on the copyright page; look for black cloth with gilt spine and the priced front flap. Club issues characteristically drop the flap price.
• The Power Broker — see deeper note (Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate) — 2002 · Alfred A. KnopfMaster of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 3): copyright page states 'First Edition' (Knopf uses the stated line, no number row). ISBN 0-394-52836-6; thick octavo of roughly 1167 pages; first-issue jacket carries the printed price unclipped. US Knopf is the true first for each Caro LBJ volume. Master of the Senate won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Each volume (The Path to Power 1982; Means of Ascent 1990; Master of the Senate 2002; The Passage of Power 2012) has its own Knopf first edition. Book-club copies of the LBJ volumes lack the printed jacket price, may carry a rear-board blindstamp, and omit the stated 'First Edition'. The 'First Edition' line plus the priced Knopf jacket identify the trade first.
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate — 2002 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf first printing has 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page beneath a full number line descending to 1; a thick octavo of xxiv plus 1167 pages, bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, issued in a pictorial dust jacket that should retain its printed front-flap price. Volume 3 of The Years of Lyndon Johnson. US true first edition (Knopf); the US edition precedes. Awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2002 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Book-club printings, when present, lack the jacket price and the 'First Edition' statement over an intact number line; the black-cloth trade first is identified by the priced jacket, the stated 'First Edition,' and the full number line ending in 1.
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power — 2012 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with a full number line descending to 1; issued in a priced dust jacket. Bound with a silver spine lettered in red, blue, and white. Volume 4 of the LBJ series. US true first edition (Knopf, 2012); the US edition precedes. Identified by the stated 'First Edition' with number line to 1. No prominent book club edition; by this date general book-club distribution had largely ceased. The UK edition (The Bodley Head, ISBN 9781847922175) is a separate issue.
• Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing — 2019 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf (Borzoi) first edition, with "First Edition" (or the Borzoi "This Is a Borzoi Book" colophon) on the copyright page and a full number line descending to 1 on the same page. Issued in cloth-backed boards in a priced pictorial dust jacket designed by Carol Devine Carson; the first-issue jacket carries the printed retail price on the front flap. Caro's short memoir on his research and writing method. US true first (Knopf, 2019). The UK edition (The Bodley Head) is a separate issue and does not precede the Knopf first. No book-club edition of note; later Knopf printings advance the number line so the 1 no longer appears.

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