# Is "Bech: A Book" by John Updike a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Bech: A Book by John Updike (Alfred A. Knopf, 1970) is identified by: The trade first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page — Knopf's settled practice from about 1933–34 onward — and the statement is removed on subsequent printings. US Alfred A.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970
- The trade first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page — Knopf's settled practice from about 1933–34 onward — and the statement is removed on subsequent printings
- Watch Knopf's own documented trap: a copyright page reading "First and second printings before publication" denotes a second printing, not a first
- Octavo, 206 pp, bound in orange cloth, in the publisher's jacket with the price present at the front flap
- A signed limited issue was also published in 1970: 500 numbered copies signed by Updike on a limitation page and issued in an illustrated slipcase, as recorded in ABAA-member dealer catalogue descriptions
- The two Knopf issues are separated by the limitation page and slipcase, not by the copyright-page statement
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Updike |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970. The trade first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page — Knopf's settled practice from about 1933–34 onward — and the statement is removed on subsequent printings. Watch Knopf's own documented trap: a copyright page reading "First and second printings before publication" denotes a second printing, not a first. Octavo, 206 pp, bound in orange cloth, in the publisher's jacket with the price present at the front flap. A signed limited issue was also published in 1970: 500 numbered copies signed by Updike on a limitation page and issued in an illustrated slipcase, as recorded in ABAA-member dealer catalogue descriptions. The two Knopf issues are separated by the limitation page and slipcase, not by the copyright-page statement.

## Is this the true first?
US Alfred A. Knopf (New York) 1970 is the true first — Updike's home-publisher issue, and the first appearance of the Henry Bech sequence. The census claim is confirmed on publisher and year. The first UK edition is André Deutsch, London, also 1970; standard author bibliographies list the book as "New York, Knopf, and London, Deutsch, 1970." The sources consulted do not give the exact Deutsch release date, so describe it as the first UK edition following the Knopf rather than as a reprint. Both are collected; the Knopf carries precedence.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club issue made from the 1970 Knopf setting exists and is routinely misdescribed as a first — copies are openly offered as "the printed pricet Edition 1970 BCE." Club copies produced from a publisher's setting commonly retain the copyright-page statement, so the copyright page alone will not separate them: check the physical book and jacket instead. The standard club tells for the period are a jacket with no price at the front flap (or a printed club code in its place), a blindstamped dot or small square on the rear board, lighter/thinner boards, and a slightly smaller trim than the trade issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Bech: A Book* by John Updike a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/bech-a-book
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.