# Is "Butcher's Crossing" by John Williams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Butcher's Crossing by John Williams (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960) is identified by: True first: The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960; collation [vi], [2], 3-239 pp. CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960; collation [vi], [2], 3-239 pp
- First printing is so stated on the copyright page
- Bound in original half crimson/red cloth over grey paper-covered boards, stamped in silver (Bauman describes the same binding as 'red and gray cloth')
- The first-state pictorial dust jacket is by Gilbert Etheredge and shows a buffalo and crossed guns; the price is present at the front flap on the first issue
- Dealers note that jacket corners are frequently found clipped on copies issued from the publisher, so corner-clipping alone should not be read as a later state — verify against the copyright-page statement, which is the controlling point
- Publisher imprint reads The Macmillan Company, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Williams |
| Publisher | The Macmillan Company, New York |
| Year | 1960 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960; collation [vi], [2], 3-239 pp |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first: The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960; collation [vi], [2], 3-239 pp. First printing is so stated on the copyright page. Bound in original half crimson/red cloth over grey paper-covered boards, stamped in silver (Bauman describes the same binding as 'red and gray cloth'). The first-state pictorial dust jacket is by Gilbert Etheredge and shows a buffalo and crossed guns; the price is present at the front flap on the first issue. Dealers note that jacket corners are frequently found clipped on copies issued from the publisher, so corner-clipping alone should not be read as a later state — verify against the copyright-page statement, which is the controlling point.

## Is this the true first?
CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The census asserted the US Macmillan 1960 is 'the only first that matters'; this overlooks a genuine British edition. Victor Gollancz, London, published Butcher's Crossing in 1960 as the first English edition, and it is separately collected. Both should be named: Macmillan (New York, 1960) is the accepted true first; Gollancz (London, 1960) is the first English edition. Month-level precedence between the two same-year editions could not be established from the sources consulted, so the US priority should be stated as the accepted convention rather than as a documented date precedence. The 2007 NYRB Classics reissue is 'first thus' only and carries no first-edition standing, as the census correctly noted.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club tells for the 1960 Macmillan printing were documented in the sources consulted. The reliable discriminator remains the copyright-page first-printing statement together with the Etheredge first-state jacket; later NYRB Classics and Vintage Classics printings are trade reissues under their own imprints and are not confusable with the 1960 sheets.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Butcher's Crossing* by John Williams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/butchers-crossing
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.