Wallace Stegner First Editions

• Remembering Laughter — 1937 · Little, BrownLittle, Brown states 'First Edition' on the copyright page (first printing); light blue cloth with gilt-stamped titles; 154 pages; dust jacket present. The jacket notes the story was chosen from 1,340 manuscripts as the winner of the publisher's short-novel (novelette) prize contest. True first US edition and Stegner's first book; it won the Little, Brown novelette prize. The UK (Heinemann) edition is a separate, later first appearance in Britain. No book-club edition of the true first; scarce in jacket.
• The Potter's House — 1938 · Prairie PressThe Prairie Press (Muscatine, Iowa) fine-press first edition, limited to 490 copies; octavo, roughly 75 pages, letterpress printed in black and red with decorative initials and red page numbers; publisher's cloth, originally in a glassine wrapper. Designed and printed by Carroll D. Coleman. True first edition; Stegner's second book and the scarcest of his regularly published titles, issued only in this limited fine-press form. No book-club edition; fine-press limited item.
• On a Darkling Plain — 1940 · Harcourt, Brace and CompanyNew York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1940. First edition, first printing identified by the 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page, which Harcourt, Brace removed on later printings (an occasional '1' also appears on the first printing). Title page dated 1940. Blue cloth, spine lettered in silver. Later printings lack the 'First Edition' statement. True first US. Stegner's third novel; previously serialized in Redbook as 'Clash by Night.'. No book-club edition of concern for the true first.
• Fire and Ice — 1941 · Duell, Sloan and PearceNew York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1941. First edition, first printing: title page dated 1941 with no statement of a later printing on the copyright page. Blue cloth, spine lettered in white. A small first printing; the jacket is often lacking. True first US. Stegner's short second novel. No major book-club edition concern.
• Mormon Country — 1942 · Duell, Sloan and PearceNew York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1942. First edition, first printing: title page dated 1942, no statement of a later printing. Part of the American Folkways series (edited by Erskine Caldwell). Map printed on the endpapers. True first US; Stegner's first nonfiction book. No major book-club edition concern.
• The Big Rock Candy Mountain — 1943 · Duell, Sloan and PearceFirst printing carries the Duell, Sloan and Pearce imprint with no statement of later printings on the copyright page. Wartime-economy paper and binding. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. Issued in cloth lettered in contrasting ink. US Duell, Sloan and Pearce 1943 is the true first. Stegner's breakthrough autobiographical novel. Firsts in the original jacket are scarce because of wartime production. A UK edition followed. Book-of-the-Month and later reprints exist. Because the Book-of-the-Month Club adopted blind stamps after 1947, a 1943 first will not bear one, while later club reprints may carry a blind stamp on the rear board and usually lack a printed jacket price. The 1943 first shows the Duell, Sloan and Pearce imprint with no later-printing notice.
• One Nation — 1945 · Houghton Mifflin CompanyBoston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1945. First edition, first printing identified by agreement of the year 1945 on both the title page and the copyright page, with no statement of a later printing. A 'Life-in-America Prize Book,' by Stegner and the Editors of Look; profusely illustrated with photographs. Tan cloth with printed labels. True first US nonfiction (a text-and-picture study of American minorities), an Anisfield-Wolf Award winner. No major book-club edition concern.
• Second Growth — 1947 · Houghton Mifflin CompanyBoston: Houghton Mifflin Company (printed at the Riverside Press, Cambridge), 1947. First edition, first printing identified by the 1947 title-page date with no statement of a later printing on the copyright page. Pale green cloth stamped in blue. True first US novel. No major book-club edition concern.
• The Preacher and the Slave — 1950 · Houghton Mifflin CompanyBoston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950. First edition, first printing identified by the 1950 title-page date with no statement of a later printing on the copyright page. Orange cloth boards, spine lettered in blue; jacket designed by William Barss. True first US novel. This 1950 title is the true first; the book was reissued in 1969 under the new title 'Joe Hill: A Biographical Novel.' Do not treat the 'Joe Hill' reissue as the first edition. No major book-club edition concern; the 1969 'Joe Hill' retitling is a later edition, not the first.
• The Women on the Wall — 1950 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition identified by the year 1950 printed on the title page, with no later printing date or additional-printing statement present; the date also appears on the list of Houghton Mifflin books by Stegner facing the title page. Issued in green cloth boards in the original George Kelly dust jacket. A collection of stories. True first edition of this Stegner story collection; the US Houghton Mifflin edition is the first printing. No book-club edition concern of note. Houghton Mifflin in 1950 did not use a printed 'First Printing' statement; rely on the title-page date matching with no reprint date.
• Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West — 1954 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition identified by 1954 on the title page matching the copyright, with no later printing date. Octavo of roughly 438 pages including index; brown cloth with gilt lettering, pictorial map endpapers, and an eight-panel fold-out panoramic frontispiece of the Grand Canyon by William H. Holmes. Issued in the original dust jacket. True first US edition of this important Stegner nonfiction study of John Wesley Powell; widely collected. No book-club edition concern of note. As with Houghton Mifflin firsts of this period, identification rests on the title-page date rather than a printed 'First Printing' statement.
• The City of the Living and Other Stories — 1956 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition (Riverside Press, October 1956) identified by the 1956 date on the title page with no later printing date; some copies also carry a first-printing indication on the copyright page, consistent with Houghton Mifflin's transitional late-1950s practice. Octavo of about 206 pages; teal/bluish-green paper-covered boards with yellow spine lettering, in the original Edward Sweet dust jacket. Includes 'The…. True first US edition of this Stegner story collection. No book-club edition concern of note. 1956 sits at the transition when Houghton Mifflin began adding a copyright-page statement; the title-page date plus first-issue jacket is the reliable point.
• A Shooting Star — 1961 · Viking PressFirst edition identified by the copyright-page statement 'Published in 1961 by The Viking Press' with no later-printing line; no number line was used. Approximately 433 pages; quarter black cloth over decorated blue paper boards, gilt spine lettering, blue top stain, in the original dust jacket. The novel derives from Stegner's earlier working title 'Sabrina.'. True first US edition of the novel. Viking reprinted this title before publication; a first-issue jacket at the correct price accompanies genuine first-printing copies, and later printings add a printing statement to the copyright page.
• Wolf Willow: A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier — 1962 · The Viking PressCopyright page reads 'Published in 1962 by The Viking Press' with no later printings listed. Bound in brown cloth with the spine title stamped in gilt on a stamped panel, with illustrated map endpapers, in a printed dust jacket that should retain its flap price. US Viking 1962 is the true first. Stegner's classic blend of history, memoir and fiction set in the Saskatchewan and Montana borderlands. US Viking 1962 is the true first. Stegner's autobiographical recollection of his boyhood homesteading in southern Saskatchewan, blending history, memoir and fiction. Distinguished from reprints by the single 1962 publication date with no added printing statements. Later Viking and University of Nebraska Press reprints are clearly marked.
• The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail — 1964 · McGraw-HillFirst edition (McGraw-Hill, 1964), part of the American Trail Series edited by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Roughly 331 pages plus prefatory leaves; purple cloth, with illustrated Mormon Trail maps. First-issue dust jacket carries the original price on the front flap. First printing shows no later-printing indication. True first US edition of this Stegner nonfiction history. No book-club edition concern of note. Confirm a first-issue jacket and the absence of any later-printing statement.
• All the Little Live Things — 1967 · Viking PressFirst edition identified by the copyright-page statement 'First published in 1967 by The Viking Press, Inc.' with no additional-printing line. About 345 pages; quarter white cloth over blue paper boards with blue lettering, blue top stain, grey endpapers, in the original Mel Williamson dust jacket bearing the original front-flap price. True first US edition of the novel. No book-club edition concern of note. Later printings add a printing statement to the copyright page.
• The Sound of Mountain Water — 1969 · DoubledayDoubleday first edition carries the 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page and the 1969 date. A recognized point of issue distinguishes states: the earliest copies lack the periodical credit lines on the copyright page (credits were omitted); a later state has a tipped-in copyright leaf that supplies the missing credits. Quarter dark green cloth over light green boards, gilt spine and front-board…. True first US edition. Not a book-club title; confirm the 'First Edition' statement and check whether the copyright leaf is integral (earliest state, no credits) or tipped in (later state with credits).
• Angle of Repose — 1971 · DoubledayFirst edition, first printing has 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page (Doubleday convention) with the matching first-issue jacket; 1971 copyright. First-issue dust jacket with front-flap price and NO mention of the Pulitzer (Stegner won the 1972 Pulitzer for this novel, so a Pulitzer-free first-issue jacket precedes the award). US Doubleday (1971) is the true first—Stegner's Western/Americana masterwork and 1972 Pulitzer winner. The Doubleday 'First Edition' statement plus a Pulitzer-free first-issue jacket are decisive. Signed copies sought. The Book Club Edition is the major confusion: it bears a blind-stamp on the rear board, lacks the 'First Edition' statement, has a price-clipped/unpriced jacket, and lighter boards. Any Pulitzer reference on the jacket indicates a later printing/state.
• The Spectator Bird — 1976 · Doubleday & CompanyFor this title the Doubleday trade first does NOT state 'First Edition' on the copyright page. The first trade printing is identified by the Doubleday gutter code (reported as R10) printed vertically at the foot of the last text page, with the price present on the dust jacket front flap. The true first edition is the Franklin Library leather-bound issue (Franklin Center, 1976), produced for its First Edition Society and preceding the Doubleday trade edition. The Doubleday trade printing is the first widely available trade first. The novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1977. Doubleday book-club reprints lack the trade gutter code and an original printed jacket price and may carry a blind-stamped dot on the rear board. The first trade printing is identified by the gutter code at the foot of the final page, not by a stated 'First Edition' line.
• Recapitulation — 1979 · DoubledayThe Doubleday trade edition's own copyright page reads 'First edition after a privately printed limited edition,' with the 1979 date, in quarter black cloth over blue boards, in dust jacket. This is the first trade edition, not the earliest appearance in print. Not the true first. A privately printed limited edition issued for the Franklin Library First Edition Society (leather-bound, no jacket as issued, with a special message from Stegner) precedes the Doubleday trade edition. The Doubleday is the first trade edition and states as much on its copyright page. The Franklin Library limited issue is the priority edition, not a book-club reprint. The Doubleday trade edition itself acknowledges the prior privately printed edition, so do not represent it as the absolute first.
• American Places — 1981 · E.P. DuttonE.P. Dutton first edition, 1981, edited by John Macrae III, with texts by Wallace Stegner and Page Stegner and eighty-nine color photographs by Eliot Porter. Issued as a large square folio (roughly 31.5 cm tall, about 224 pages) in natural cloth-covered boards with the title gilt-stamped on the spine, in an illustrated dust jacket; the jacket should retain its printed price on the front flap. Corresponds to…. True first US edition of this collaboration, published by E.P. Dutton in 1981 (ISBN 0525053905). No book-club concern for the Dutton trade first; confirm the Dutton imprint, the 1981 date, and that the copyright page shows no later-printing indicators.
• One Way to Spell Man — 1982 · DoubledayDoubleday first edition, 1982, with the 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page; full title 'One Way to Spell Man: Essays with a Western Bias,' 177 pages, quarter black cloth over gray boards, in dust jacket. True first US edition (essay collection). Not a book-club title; confirm the Doubleday 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page.
• Crossing to Safety — 1987 · Random HouseRandom House trade first carries 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page together with the number line ending in 1, plus the Random House house colophon. Dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. Stegner's last novel. The Franklin Library signed, leather-bound edition (1987) PRECEDES the Random House trade edition and is regarded as the true first; the Random House first is the first trade edition. Collectors distinguish the two. Random House book-club editions drop the 'First Edition' statement and number line, carry a blind stamp on the rear board, and have an unpriced jacket. The intact number line ending in 1 plus the stated 'First Edition' marks the Random House trade first.
• The American West as Living Space — 1987 · University of Michigan PressUniversity of Michigan Press first edition, 1987, deriving from the William W. Cook Lectures delivered at the University of Michigan Law School in October 1986; three lectures ('Living Dry,' 'Striking the Rock,' 'Variations on a Theme by Crevecoeur'), about 104 pages. Issued in both a cloth hardcover and a paperback the same year. True first US edition (lectures). Both the cloth and paperback issues appeared in 1987 from the University of Michigan Press. No book-club edition; confirm the University of Michigan Press imprint and 1987 date.
• Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner — 1990 · Random HouseRandom House first edition, 1990, with the 'First Edition' statement and a complete number line on the copyright page; approximately xi plus 525 pages, half burgundy cloth with claret paper over boards, in dust jacket. First edition of this gathering (first thus); the collection assembles previously published stories. Not a book-club edition; confirm the 'First Edition' statement together with the complete number line.
• Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West — 1992 · Random HouseRandom House (New York), first edition stated on the copyright page with the number line ending in 1; dated 1992 (published March 1992). Half dark red cloth over matching paper-covered boards, orange endpapers, 227 pages, in dust jacket. True first US edition; a gathering of Stegner's essays on the American West. No book-club edition concern for the true first.

More Nature, Western & Americana shelves: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Wendell Berry, William Kittredge, Zane Grey, A. B. Guthrie Jr., Annie Dillard.

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