# Is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr. (illus. Eric Carle) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. (illus. Eric Carle) (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967) is identified by: True first is the 1967 Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition, stating the Holt, Rinehart and Winston imprint and dated 1967. The scarce 1967 HRW printing is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is the 1967 Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition, stating the Holt, Rinehart and Winston imprint and dated 1967
- Carle's original collage uses commercially available tissue papers, giving a flatter, muddier palette than the later repainted artwork
- Confirm both the 1967 date and the HRW imprint
- Publisher imprint reads Holt, Rinehart and Winston
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Bill Martin Jr. (illus. Eric Carle) |
| Publisher | Holt, Rinehart and Winston |
| Year | 1967 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | True first is the 1967 Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition, stating the Holt, Rinehart and Winston imprint and dated 1967 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first is the 1967 Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition, stating the Holt, Rinehart and Winston imprint and dated 1967. Carle's original collage uses commercially available tissue papers, giving a flatter, muddier palette than the later repainted artwork. Confirm both the 1967 date and the HRW imprint.

## Is this the true first?
The scarce 1967 HRW printing is the true first. Carle later produced new sets of artwork for the book; counting the original, there are four complete sets of illustrations. The widely circulated repainted version (with archival hand-painted papers and a brighter palette, plus a text change on the final page) is a 'first thus,' not the 1967 first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Almost all copies in commerce are the later re-illustrated trade editions or board-book adaptations rather than the 1967 first. The earlier version's text ends with a teacher/mother rather than the revised wording.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?* by Bill Martin Jr. (illus. Eric Carle) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/brown-bear-brown-bear-what-do-you-see
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.