Is My Bless the Beasts and Children a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The point is the words "First Edition" printed on the copyright page, beneath the copyright notice on the verso of the title leaf — Doubleday's documented house practice from 1927 to 2000, and confirmed for this title by a trade dealer describing the regular issue as "'First Edition' stated on copyright page." Later Doubleday printings omit the statement, so its absence rules a copy out
• The trade issue is a full-cloth binding in a glossy pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap; the jacket design is credited to Alan Peckolick
• Collation is commonly reported at 205 pages
• Pre-publication review copies of the first printing exist and are recorded by ABAA-level dealers
• No first-state text errors are documented in the sources consulted

How Doubleday & Company marked a first edition

• Mid-1958–early 1959: numerical gutter code (1–52) on the last page of text indicating the WEEK of printing. Early 1959–1987: added a LETTER code before the week code indicating the YEAR.

Full Doubleday & Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED — this is not a US-only first. The US Doubleday (Garden City) 1970 edition is the true first: Kirkus reviewed it from the American edition on 13 March 1970, and the official Swarthout bibliography at Arizona State University records Doubleday 1970 (LC 79-94331) as the original. A first UK edition followed the same year from Martin Secker & Warburg (London), 1970, in cloth with a priced dust-wrapper; it is collected as the UK first and should be named alongside the Doubleday. The 1971 Penguin paperback is explicitly a "first thus" film tie-in and carries no precedence, as do the Pocket Books 25th-anniversary and Enriched Classics reissues.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Club copies are abundant and are the main trap on this title: the novel was simultaneously a Literary Guild selection, a Doubleday Book Club selection, and a Reader's Digest Condensed Book. Doubleday club printings are documented as smaller and thinner-bulked with cheaper binding and paper; the jacket carries no price, formerly stated "Book Club Edition" at the bottom corner of the front flap, frequently lacks a bar code on the rear panel, and shows a five-digit code in a white block. A blind stamp at the lower rear board is a further club tell. Critically, a club copy can still show "First Edition" on the copyright page because the statement was not always removed from the plates — the stated line alone never establishes a trade first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Bless the Beasts and Children a first edition?

A first edition of Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout (Doubleday & Company) is identified by: The point is the words "First Edition" printed on the copyright page, beneath the copyright notice on the verso of the title leaf — Doubleday's documented house practice from 1927 to 2000, and confirmed for this title by a trade dealer describing the regular issue as "'First Edition' stated on copyright page." Later Doubleday printings omit the statement, so its absence rules a copy out.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED — this is not a US-only first.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Club copies are abundant and are the main trap on this title: the novel was simultaneously a Literary Guild selection, a Doubleday Book Club selection, and a Reader's Digest Condensed Book. Doubleday club printings are documented as smaller and thinner-bulked with cheaper binding and paper; the jacket carries no price, formerly stated "Book Club Edition" at the bottom corner of the front flap, frequently lacks a bar code on the rear panel, and shows a five-digit code in a white block. A blind st

I have a first edition of Bless the Beasts and Children — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.