# Is "Catherine Carmier" by Ernest J. Gaines a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Catherine Carmier by Ernest J. Gaines (Atheneum, 1964) is identified by: The first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page — this is the primary and decisive point, and it accords with documented Atheneum practice for the period: Atheneum stated first edition on the copyright page and did not adopt a number row until the mid-1980s, so no number line should be present on a 1964 first. US Atheneum (New York), 1964, is the true first and the only contemporaneous edition; no British edition of Gaines's first book was traced in the sources consulted.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page — this is the primary and decisive point, and it accords with documented Atheneum practice for the period: Atheneum stated first edition on the copyright page and did not adopt a number row until the mid-1980s, so no number line should be present on a 1964 first
- The book is an octavo, [vi], 248 pp., quarter-bound in cloth over green paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in gilt, the front cover stamped in blind, with the top edge stained red; the jacket was designed by H. Lawrence Hoffman, with the title set in Craw Clarendon and the author's name in Century Expanded italic, and should be a priced jacket with the price present at the flap
- Caution on one commonly cited point: dealers describe the spine cloth variously as blue, grey, and brown, so spine-cloth colour is not a reliable diagnostic and should not be used to reject a copy that is otherwise correct — the copyright-page statement governs
- Publisher imprint reads Atheneum
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ernest J. Gaines |
| Publisher | Atheneum |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page — this is the primary and decisive point, and it accords with documented… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page — this is the primary and decisive point, and it accords with documented Atheneum practice for the period: Atheneum stated first edition on the copyright page and did not adopt a number row until the mid-1980s, so no number line should be present on a 1964 first. The book is an octavo, [vi], 248 pp., quarter-bound in cloth over green paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in gilt, the front cover stamped in blind, with the top edge stained red; the jacket was designed by H. Lawrence Hoffman, with the title set in Craw Clarendon and the author's name in Century Expanded italic, and should be a priced jacket with the price present at the flap. Caution on one commonly cited point: dealers describe the spine cloth variously as blue, grey, and brown, so spine-cloth colour is not a reliable diagnostic and should not be used to reject a copy that is otherwise correct — the copyright-page statement governs.

## Is this the true first?
US Atheneum (New York), 1964, is the true first and the only contemporaneous edition; no British edition of Gaines's first book was traced in the sources consulted. This is Gaines's first book — the first Gaines 'A' item — and a rewrite of the manuscript he wrote at seventeen and destroyed after rejection. Later Vintage/North Point paperback issues are 'first thus' reprints, not firsts.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of Catherine Carmier is documented in the sources consulted. Because the first printing is identified by an explicit copyright-page statement rather than a number line, any copy lacking the 'First Edition' statement is a later printing or a reprint regardless of the date on the title page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Catherine Carmier* by Ernest J. Gaines a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/catherine-carmier
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.