# Is "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West" by Wallace Stegner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner (Houghton Mifflin, 1954) is identified by: First edition identified by 1954 on the title page matching the copyright, with no later printing date. True first US edition of this important Stegner nonfiction study of John Wesley Powell; widely collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First 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
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wallace Stegner |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1954 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition identified by 1954 on the title page matching the copyright, with no later… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First 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.

## Is this the true first?
True first US edition of this important Stegner nonfiction study of John Wesley Powell; widely collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West* by Wallace Stegner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/beyond-the-hundredth-meridian-john-wesley-powell-and-the-sec
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.