# Is "Bless the Beasts and Children" by Glendon Swarthout a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout (Doubleday & Company, 1970) 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. CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED — this is not a US-only first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Glendon Swarthout |
| Publisher | Doubleday & Company |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The point is the words "First Edition" printed on the copyright page, beneath the copyright notice on the verso of the title leaf… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Bless the Beasts and Children* by Glendon Swarthout a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/bless-the-beasts-and-children
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.