Is My Cimarron a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing is identified by the words "First Edition" stated on the copyright page, set on its own line at the foot of the page — the designation Doubleday, Doran used for Ferber (the same practice is recorded for So Big and Giant)
• The copyright page of a first printing reads "COPYRIGHT, 1929, 1930, BY EDNA FERBER," followed by "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" and the Country Life Press, Garden City imprint line; the two-year copyright is normal for the first and is not by itself a point
• There is no number line — Doubleday, Doran did not use one in this period; later printings simply drop the "First Edition" line while retaining the 1930 title-page date, so the absence of the statement is the disqualifier
• Collation is [xii], 388 pp., octavo, with decorative (pictorial) endpapers
• The dust jacket is by Howard Willard and shows a mounted rider silhouetted against a setting sun; a first-issue jacket is unclipped with the price present at the front flap
• Advance review copies were issued ahead of the trade printing in original printed wrappers (some carrying a printed William Allen White endorsement on the front cover); these are catalogued by dealers as first edition, advance review copy and are a separate pre-publication issue, not a later reprint

How Doubleday, Doran & Company marked a first edition

• 1897–c.1920s (Doubleday & McClure / Doubleday, Page): first editions have the SAME date on title page and copyright page with no other printings mentioned.
• Early 1920s–1927: began stating 'First Edition' on the copyright page (not always on books first published outside the US); by 1927 (Doubleday, Doran) used 'First Edition' consistently.

Full Doubleday, Doran & 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the American 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?

The true first is the American edition: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Garden City, New York, published April 1930. Ferber was an American author publishing with her home house, and the US issue is the edition collected as the first. The first English edition is William Heinemann, London, 1930 (388 pp.), also collected in its own right and correctly described as the first English edition rather than the first edition. The census claim that the US issue precedes the same-year Heinemann is consistent with everything located and is the standard trade understanding, but no source consulted documents the Heinemann release at month level, so US priority is asserted on publisher-of-origin grounds rather than on a dated bibliographic record. Do not confuse either with the 1931 Grosset & Dunlap photoplay reprint, which is a "first thus" trap.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The most common reprint trap is the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition issued for the 1931 RKO film (Richard Dix, Irene Dunne): it carries the 1930 copyright date forward on the copyright page, so the year alone reads as a first — the tells are the Grosset & Dunlap imprint on the spine, title page and jacket, the absence of the "First Edition" statement, the film-still frontispiece/insert, and the jacket's movie artwork with a "Photoplay Edition" or cast credit. Later Doubleday, Doran printings of the sizeable 1930 trade run are identified simply by the missing "First Edition" line. No Book-of-the-Month or other book-club issue of the 1930 first appearance was documented in the sources consulted; Cimarron was the best-selling novel of 1930 in the trade edition itself, so blind-stamp/dot book-club tells are not the usual failure mode here — the Grosset & Dunlap reprint is.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Cimarron a first edition?

A first edition of Cimarron by Edna Ferber (Doubleday, Doran & Company) is identified by: The first printing is identified by the words "First Edition" stated on the copyright page, set on its own line at the foot of the page — the designation Doubleday, Doran used for Ferber (the same practice is recorded for So Big and Giant).

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The true first is the American edition: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Garden City, New York, published April 1930.

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

The most common reprint trap is the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition issued for the 1931 RKO film (Richard Dix, Irene Dunne): it carries the 1930 copyright date forward on the copyright page, so the year alone reads as a first — the tells are the Grosset & Dunlap imprint on the spine, title page and jacket, the absence of the "First Edition" statement, the film-still frontispiece/insert, and the jacket's movie artwork with a "Photoplay Edition" or cast credit. Later Doubleday, Doran printings

I have a first edition of Cimarron — 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.