William Faulkner First Editions

• The Marble Faun — 1924 · The Four Seas Company, BostonFaulkner's first book, a poetry collection with a preface by Phil Stone. Issued in paper-covered (marbled/mottled) boards with printed paper labels on the front cover and spine, in a glassine and a green-printed dust wrapper. Edition of about 500 copies. Copyright page carries the 'Published, December, 1924' statement and the Four Seas imprint; publication was fixed at December 15, 1924. True first appearance of Faulkner in book form. No UK precedence. No book-club edition. Beware later facsimiles; genuine copies are the 1924 Four Seas issue with the printed paper labels and original wrappers. Survival is low.
• Soldiers' Pay — 1926 · Boni & Liveright, New YorkFaulkner's first novel (his second book after the 1924 poetry collection The Marble Faun). Published February 1926 in a first printing of 2,500 copies. Binding: blue cloth, front board and spine stamped in yellow, spine also stamped in blind, with pictorial endpapers. The copyright page carries no statement of later printings. The key first-state dust jacket point: the rear panel lists five titles with An…. True US first; precedes the UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1930. Note Faulkner's actual first book was the poetry collection The Marble Faun (1924); Soldiers' Pay is his first novel. No book club edition. Later Boni & Liveright printings are noted on the copyright page; the first printing has no such notice.
• Mosquitoes — 1927 · Boni & Liveright, New YorkFaulkner's second novel. Binding: navy blue cloth lettered in yellow on the spine and front cover, with yellow top stain and yellow endpapers. The copyright page of the first printing carries no indication of a later printing. True US first; precedes the UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1964. No book club edition. Later Boni & Liveright printings are identified by a printing notice on the copyright page; the first has none.
• Sartoris — 1929 · Harcourt, Brace and CompanyThe first printing carries the 1929 copyright with no printing statement on the copyright page; Harcourt, Brace noted its later printings, so any printing line indicates a later state. Octavo, 380 pages, bound in black cloth with the title lettered in red on the spine and front cover, top edge stained red; 1,998 copies were printed. The jacket was designed by Arthur Hawkins Jr. Dealers cite Petersen A5.1 (given…. Census claim confirmed. The true first is Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, published 31 January 1929 — the only Faulkner title Harcourt, Brace issued, and the debut of Yoknapatawpha County. The first UK edition is Chatto & Windus, London, 1932; it is collected as the English first but does not precede. The first-thus trap is Flags in the Dust (Random House, 1973, edited with an introduction by Douglas Day),…. No first-printing book-club issue is documented. The common reprints are the Grosset & Dunlap issue and the later Random House issue, both plainly stated. Because the Harcourt first itself carries no edition statement, the characteristic pitfall is a reprint-publisher copy that also has nothing on the copyright page — check the imprint on the spine and title page and the black cloth/red lettering/red top edge….
• The Sound and the Fury — 1929 · Jonathan Cape & Harrison SmithCONFIRMED: 1,789 copies first printing (Daniel; multiple ABAA dealers). True first is US Cape and Smith 1929, published Oct 7 1929; UK Chatto and Windus 1931 is later. No additional-printing notice is consistent. WRONG BINDING: not black cloth with paper spine label; it is patterned Art Deco paper-covered boards with a white cloth spine, title stamped in black on the spine with no paper label, dark blue-gray…. US Cape & Smith is the true first; the UK Chatto & Windus edition is later. Earliest Faulkner firsts are defined by the Cape & Smith imprint and first-state binding. Grosset & Dunlap and later reprints carry their own imprints; no book-club edition matches the Cape & Smith first-printing binding and label.
• As I Lay Dying — 1930 · Jonathan Cape and Harrison SmithFirst edition, first issue: published by Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1930, in publisher's beige cloth stamped in brown with pictorial dust jacket. The defining first-issue point is the dropped or misaligned 'I' on page 11. The first printing comprised 2,522 copies; the plate for page 11 was replaced after roughly the first 750 copies, so only those earliest copies show the misaligned 'I'. Copies…. The US Cape and Smith 1930 edition is the true first; the UK Chatto and Windus edition of 1935 is later. The first state is distinguished by the dropped/misaligned 'I' on page 11. Within the first printing, the corrected page 11 marks the later state. No notable book-club first edition.
• The Sound and the Fury / As I Lay Dying — 1930 · Jonathan Cape & Harrison SmithFor 'As I Lay Dying' (1930) the key first-issue point is the broken/dropped initial capital 'I' on page 11: the first 750 copies of the 2,522-copy first printing show the misaligned 'I' before the page-11 plate was replaced, with the corrected state following. The book is bound in publisher's beige/tan cloth stamped in brown with a brown top stain. For 'The Sound and the Fury' (1929) the trade first is bound in…. Both are US Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith (New York) firsts: 'The Sound and the Fury' 1929 and 'As I Lay Dying' 1930. The corrected page-11 state of 'As I Lay Dying' follows the broken-'I' state within the same first printing. Later printings and reissues repair the broken page-11 type in 'As I Lay Dying.' Book-club reprints of these titles are typically identifiable by a blind-stamped mark to the rear board and lack the original binding and point details.
• Sanctuary — 1931 · Jonathan Cape and Harrison SmithFirst edition (Connolly canon): Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1931. Copyright page reads 'First published, 1931' with no later-impression notice. Binding is light gray cloth over magenta paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in magenta, with a black-stained top edge (the record's 'red cloth lettered in black' is incorrect). First-issue dust jacket carries 'A Check List for the Discriminating…. The US Cape and Smith 1931 edition is the true first; the UK Chatto and Windus edition (1931) follows. No precedence question beyond US-first. Later printings add impression statements on the copyright page; the Modern Library reissue is a clear 'first thus'. Confirm the 'First published, 1931' statement and the back-panel checklist on the jacket.
• These 13 — 1931 · Jonathan Cape & Harrison SmithTrade first printing: no printing statement on the copyright page — later printings are stated, and a stated third printing dated October 1931 is recorded — and the table of contents carries the first-state error listing "Hair" at page 280 instead of the correct 208. Bound in blue cloth with pictorial endpapers and a blue topstain; jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins. The signed limited issue is 299 copies with the…. Census claim confirmed. The true first is Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, New York, 1931 — Faulkner's first story collection and the first book appearance of "A Rose for Emily"; eight of the thirteen stories ("Victory", "Ad Astra", "All the Dead Pilots", "Crevasse", "A Justice", "Mistral", "Divorce in Naples", "Carcassonne") appear in print here for the first time. The first UK edition is Chatto & Windus, London,…. No book-club issue is documented for 1931. The working trap is the stated second and third trade printings: they match the first in binding and carry the same 1931 date, and are routinely offered as "first edition" on the strength of that date alone. The contents-page 280/208 error and the absence of any printing statement separate the first printing from them. The 299-copy signed issue is identified by its….
• Light in August — 1932 · Harrison Smith & Robert HaasFirst trade printing has the publisher's device and no later-printing notice; orange/tan cloth. A signed limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies preceded or accompanied the trade issue and is the premium state. The first trade issue lacks any printing statement. US Smith & Haas is the true first. The 1,000-copy signed numbered limited is the most desirable. UK Chatto & Windus is later. Later Random House / Modern Library reprints carry those imprints and notices; the signed limitation page is unique to the limited.
• Doctor Martino and Other Stories — 1934 · Harrison Smith & Robert HaasHarrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934, issued in two forms. TRADE ISSUE: 8vo (approx. 19.5cm), 371 pp; original dark blue/indigo cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt, top edge stained yellow; in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins — a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state. The first printing carries no edition or printing statement on the…. Census claim CONFIRMED: the US Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York, 1934 (Massey 438; Petersen A16.1) is the true first, in trade and 360-copy signed issues. Chatto & Windus, London, 1934 (Massey 439; Petersen A16.2) followed in the same year and is the first English edition — separately collected and genuinely scarce: crown 8vo (189 x 118mm), [8]371,[5] pp, publisher's scarlet cloth, spine lettered in gold,…. No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The reprint tell for the US issue is the copyright page: later Smith & Haas printings are stated there, whereas the first printing carries no statement at all.
• Pylon — 1935 · Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New YorkCensus claim confirmed. The first edition was issued in two simultaneous forms, both collected as first printings. The trade issue is bound in dark cobalt-blue cloth with the spine and upper cover stamped in gilt within a horizontal black band, with a black top stain; the copyright page of the first printing carries the February 1935 printing date and no later printing statement. The pictorial jacket should be…. The US edition (Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, published 25 March 1935) is the true first and precedes the UK edition. Chatto & Windus, London, published its edition later in 1935 in a reported printing of 2,900 copies; it is the first English edition and is collected in its own right, but it does not compete with the US issue for precedence. Both the 310-copy signed limited issue and the trade issue…. No contemporary book-club issue of Pylon is documented in the sources consulted. Later reprints under other imprints carry their own publisher's imprint on the spine and title page and lack the black-banded gilt stamping and black top stain of the 1935 trade binding.
• Absalom, Absalom! — 1936 · Random HouseFirst trade edition is identified by "1936" on the title page AND "1936" on the copyright page with NO additional statement of later printings (no "Second printing," etc.); a printer's code "EH" appears at the foot of the copyright page on the true first. Random House did NOT print the words "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page of this 1936 book — the original claim is wrong on that point. The first edition does…. US Random House is the true first. The 300-copy signed limited (slipcased) is the premium true-first state and precedes the trade printing. Book-club and later printings drop 'First Edition' and may omit or reproduce the map differently; the limitation leaf identifies the signed issue.
• The Unvanquished — 1938 · Random House, New YorkThe trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page. Bound in grey cloth (toned copies are often catalogued as tan) stamped in red and blue, with a red top stain; 8vo, [8], 293 pp., the first leaf a blank. Illustrated with drawings by Edward Shenton — the first of Faulkner's American trade books to be illustrated. Jacket priced at the front flap. Cited as Petersen A19.1 and Brodsky 193 by…. US Random House, New York, 1938 is the true first. Within that publication the signed limited issue of 250 copies precedes the trade printing — Bauman Rare Books states the trade first was "preceded by a signed limited edition of 250 copies" — so the limited, not the trade, is the earliest issue; both are collected, and the trade first in jacket is the standard collector's copy. The first English edition followed…. No book-club issue of the 1938 Random House printing is documented in the sources consulted. Later Random House printings and subsequent reprints lack the "First Printing" line on the copyright page; the line, together with grey cloth stamped in red and blue and the red top stain, is the test. The signed limited is a publisher's issue, not a reprint, and correctly has no printed jacket — only an acetate wrapper.
• The Wild Palms — 1939 · Random House, New YorkFirst trade edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page. Binding: beige (tan) cloth, with titling and rule stamped in green and gilt on spine and front panel, and a green top stain. Issued in a first-issue dust jacket with the printed price. A separate signed limited edition of 250 copies was also issued. True US first; precedes the UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1939. The novel was later reissued under the title If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. No book club edition. Reprints drop the 'FIRST EDITION' statement from the copyright page.
• The Hamlet — 1940 · Random House"First Printing" is stated on the copyright page of the trade first; Random House dropped the statement on later printings, so a 1940 title page with no statement is a later printing. Octavo, collating [x],[2],3-421,[3] pages. Bound in black cloth with titling and rule stamped in gilt and red on the spine and front panel, with a purple topstain (some dealers describe the same stain as deep maroon). First-state…. Census claim confirmed. The true first is Random House, New York, 1940 — the opening novel of the Snopes trilogy, completed by The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959). The first UK edition is Chatto & Windus, London, 1940; it is collected as the English first, but the American issue is the accepted true first. The 250-copy signed limited and the trade first printing are both Random House 1940 and both collected:…. No book-club issue for 1940 was documented in the sources consulted, so the stated "First Printing" remains the decisive test. The practical trap is later Random House printings, which keep the 1940 title page but lose the copyright-page statement; copies in red cloth rather than black are recorded as early-but-later Random House printings. The rear-panel jacket count is the quickest screen — ten Random House….
• Go Down, Moses — 1942 · Random House, New YorkFirst edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page; the title page and binding read 'Go Down, Moses and Other Stories' (the 'and Other Stories' was later dropped). Primary first-issue binding: black cloth, titling and rule stamped in gilt and red on spine and front panel, with a red top stain. First-issue dust jacket lists eight titles on the rear panel beginning with 'Storm.' Several scarcer variant…. True US first; precedes the UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1942. The 'and Other Stories' on the title page and spine is a recognized first-issue point. No book club edition. Later printings drop both the 'and Other Stories' wording and the 'FIRST EDITION' statement.
• Intruder in the Dust — 1948 · Random House"First Printing" is stated on the copyright page. Random House's practice in this period was to state the first printing and remove the statement thereafter, so an unstated 1948 copy is a later printing. Octavo, approximately 20.75 cm. Bound in smooth black cloth with the titles and rules stamped in gilt and blue on the spine and front cover, with a blue topstain; the title page is printed in blue and black. The…. Census claim confirmed. The true first is Random House, New York, 1948. The first UK edition is Chatto & Windus, London, 1949 — collected as the English first, but it follows the American issue by a year and does not precede. No original-language question arises: Faulkner wrote in English and the American issue is the first appearance. No specific book-club issue of Intruder in the Dust was documented in the sources consulted; the stated "First Printing" is the decisive test and no later printing carries it. Book-club copies of this period are conventionally identified by a blind-stamped indent on the rear board and a jacket with no price at the flap, but that is a general-practice screen here rather than a documented point for this title. The….
• Knight's Gambit — 1949 · Random HouseRandom House, New York, 1949. 8vo, [6], 246 pp; publisher's red cloth, spine and front board stamped in gilt over black; in the pictorial dust jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, with the price present at the front flap (a priced jacket is the wanted state). The first printing carries NO edition or printing statement on the copyright page — dealers phrase it as "no statement of edition or printing on…. Census claim CONFIRMED: the US Random House, New York, 1949 is the true first. Chatto & Windus, London, 1951 is the first English edition and is separately collected: publisher's blue cloth, gilt lettering to the spine, blue top edge, in a dust jacket by Lynton Lamb. One UK dealer records that the Chatto edition went to a second impression in May 1951 with the first impression appearing the previous month, so on…. No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted for this title; the specific club tells sometimes asserted for mid-century Faulkner (blind stamp to the rear board, unpriced jacket, reduced trim) are not attested for Knight's Gambit in any source checked and should not be published as points. The documented reprint tell is the copyright page: later printings are stated, the first is not.
• Collected Stories of William Faulkner — 1950 · Random House, New YorkCensus claim confirmed. The first printing states FIRST PRINTING on the copyright page. It is bound in gray cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and a blue top stain; the title page carries blue (with black) printing over the title. A distinctive first-issue point is the word "The" appearing on the book's spine above "Collected Stories of William Faulkner" — this reads as an error, since "The" does not appear…. The US edition (Random House, New York, 1950) is the true first; it won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1951. The first English edition followed from Chatto & Windus, London, in 1951, bound in blue cloth; it is a legitimate first English edition collected separately but has no claim on precedence. Book-club copies are well documented and are distinguished by several tells taken together: a small blind stamp or dimple impressed at a corner of the back board; the word "The" omitted from the spine; no blue top stain; a title page lacking the blue highlighting over the title; and a thinner, lower-grade cloth than the trade binding. A stated FIRST PRINTING on the copyright page alone does not clear a copy —….
• Requiem for a Nun — 1951 · Random HouseRandom House, New York, 1951, issued in two forms. SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE: 750 numbered copies signed by Faulkner on the limitation/justification page, bound in half black cloth over marbled paper boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, in the publisher's original acetate jacket; several references treat this signed limited as the true first. TRADE ISSUE, first printing: the first edition is NOT stated, and…. Census claim CONFIRMED: the US Random House, New York, 1951 is the true first (in both the 750-copy signed limited and the trade issue). Chatto & Windus, London, 1953 is the first English edition and is separately collected: 12mo, (19), 251 pp, light blue cloth boards with gilt spine titling, in a yellow and black illustrated jacket designed by Paul Hogarth. The book is a sequel to Sanctuary, returning to Temple…. No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The documented reprint/later-state tells are: later printings are stated on the copyright page; "Chocktaw" is corrected to "Choctaw" at page 21; and later jackets carry the corrected E. McKnight Kauffer credit. A copy with a correct "Choctaw" or a correct Kauffer credit is not a first state, whatever the copyright page suggests.
• A Fable — 1954 · Random HouseA signed, numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies (in publisher's blue cloth, dark blue top edge, slipcased) precedes the trade edition and is the true first issue. The trade first edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page (Random House practice in this era; the statement is removed on later printings) and is in blue cloth with crosses stamped on the boards. US Random House 1954; the signed/numbered limited of 1,000 copies is the true first issue, with the 'FIRST EDITION'-stated trade following. The 1955 Pulitzer and National Book Award winner. Trade later printings remove the 'FIRST EDITION' statement. Book-club copies are clearly marked.
• The Mansion — 1959 · Random House, New YorkThe trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page. Bound in blue (variously described as blue-green or teal) coarsely woven cloth, the upper cover and spine ruled in grey and lettered in gold, with a yellow top stain and blue endpapers; 8vo, [12], 436 pp. The first-state pictorial jacket carries the publisher's code "10/59" at the foot of the front flap, the price present at the flap, no…. US Random House, New York, 1959 is the true first of this text — the closing volume of the Snopes trilogy, after The Hamlet (1940) and The Town (1957). The first English edition followed from Chatto & Windus (London) in 1961, two years later, in red cloth lettered in gilt and set to 399 pp.; it has no precedence claim and is collected only as the first English edition. Within the Random House publication two…. No club binding specific to this title is documented in the sources consulted, so no club-specific tells are asserted here. The decisive tests remain the copyright-page "First Printing" line and the "10/59" code at the foot of the front flap — a jacket without the code, or a copyright page without the line, is not the trade first printing. The 500-copy signed limited is a publisher's issue rather than a reprint,….
• The Reivers — 1962 · Random HouseRandom House trade first: the copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (Random House's first-printing convention for this period, accompanied by the house code letter), not 'First Edition.' Red cloth lettered in gilt, red top-stain, octavo of about 305 pages, in a first-issue jacket carrying the printed price and a the printed price date code on the front flap. A signed, numbered limited edition of 500 copies,…. US Random House 1962. The signed/numbered limited edition (500 copies, signed on the limitation leaf) is the true first issue and precedes the trade first. For the trade first, the point is the 'FIRST PRINTING' statement on the copyright page with the Random House house code, not a 'First Edition' statement. Later trade printings drop the 'FIRST PRINTING' line. Book-club copies are marked accordingly and typically show a blind-stamp and an unpriced jacket.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: William Gaddis, William Gass, William Gibson, William Gilmore Simms, William Harrison Ainsworth, William Kennedy.

← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.