Is My Coming of Age in Samoa a First Edition?

The points of issue

• William Morrow & Company, New York, 1928 (August 1928
• LCCN 28-20670)
• The title page is dated in roman numerals, MCMXXVIII, and the copyright page reads copyright 1928 by William Morrow & Company with no mention of any later printing — that absence is the test
• Octavo, 297 pp., with a foreword by Franz Boas and a black-and-white photographic frontispiece and plates (dealers count roughly seven plates / twelve photographs)
• The binding is blue cloth boards with silver palm trees stamped on the front cover and silver lettering to the spine
• The first-issue jacket carries an illustration of a young Samoan couple, shows the subtitle beneath the title, and is free of review blurbs or quotations; later jackets add press quotations

How William Morrow & Company marked a first edition

• 1922–c.1962 (Harper & Brothers, stated-first era): from 1922 Harper & Brothers began printing the words 'First Edition' on the copyright page. IMPORTANT: the letter printing code did NOT stop in 1922 — it continued to ap…

Full William Morrow & 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. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

US precedes. William Morrow & Company, New York, 1928 is the true first. The first British edition is Jonathan Cape, London, 1929, collected as the first UK appearance but not the true first. Correction to the census note: this title was NOT on William Morrow's 'very first list' — Morrow founded the firm in 1926 and its first book was Honoré Morrow's On to Oregon!; Coming of Age in Samoa appeared two years into the imprint and became its early landmark, which is a different claim.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the 1928 Morrow issue is documented, but the cheap-reprint traps are heavy and are routinely mistaken for the first because they retain a 1928 copyright line. Blue Ribbon Books, New York, reprinted it from about 1932 (also 1936); the Modern Library issued it in 1953; there are American Museum of Natural History members' issues and an International Collectors Library edition; and the Mentor/Signet and Dell/Laurel paperbacks follow. Any copy naming Blue Ribbon Books, Modern Library, Mentor, New American Library or Peter Smith on the title page or spine is a reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Coming of Age in Samoa a first edition?

A first edition of Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (William Morrow & Company) is identified by: William Morrow & Company, New York, 1928 (August 1928; LCCN 28-20670).

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US precedes.

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

No book-club edition of the 1928 Morrow issue is documented, but the cheap-reprint traps are heavy and are routinely mistaken for the first because they retain a 1928 copyright line. Blue Ribbon Books, New York, reprinted it from about 1932 (also 1936); the Modern Library issued it in 1953; there are American Museum of Natural History members' issues and an International Collectors Library edition; and the Mentor/Signet and Dell/Laurel paperbacks follow. Any copy naming Blue Ribbon Books, Modern

I have a first edition of Coming of Age in Samoa — 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.