# Is "Doctor Martino and Other Stories" by William Faulkner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Doctor Martino and Other Stories by William Faulkner (Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, 1934) is identified by: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934, issued in two forms. Census claim CONFIRMED: the US Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York, 1934 (Massey 438; Petersen A16.1) is the true first, in trade and 360-copy signed issues.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934, issued in two forms
- TRADE ISSUE: 8vo (approx
- 19.5cm), 371 pp; original dark blue/indigo cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt, top edge stained yellow; in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins — a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state
- The first printing carries no edition or printing statement on the copyright page and the copyright-page date matches the 1934 title-page date; later printings are noted on the copyright page, so identification is by absence
- SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE: 360 copies signed by Faulkner and numbered, printed on W. and A. all-rag paper, bound in black cloth over burgundy cloth
- Fourteen stories, of which "Black Music" and "Leg" appear here for the first time
- Publisher imprint reads Harrison Smith & Robert Haas

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Faulkner |
| Publisher | Harrison Smith & Robert Haas |
| Year | 1934 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934, issued in two forms |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934, issued in two forms. TRADE ISSUE: 8vo (approx. 19.5cm), 371 pp; original dark blue/indigo cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt, top edge stained yellow; in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins — a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state. The first printing carries no edition or printing statement on the copyright page and the copyright-page date matches the 1934 title-page date; later printings are noted on the copyright page, so identification is by absence. SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE: 360 copies signed by Faulkner and numbered, printed on W. and A. all-rag paper, bound in black cloth over burgundy cloth. Fourteen stories, of which "Black Music" and "Leg" appear here for the first time. Bibliography: Massey 438; Petersen A16.1 (some dealers cite Petersen A15a for the US issue — the citation is inconsistent across the trade, but every reference consulted places the Smith & Haas issue ahead of the Chatto).

## Is this the true first?
Census claim CONFIRMED: the US Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York, 1934 (Massey 438; Petersen A16.1) is the true first, in trade and 360-copy signed issues. Chatto & Windus, London, 1934 (Massey 439; Petersen A16.2) followed in the same year and is the first English edition — separately collected and genuinely scarce: crown 8vo (189 x 118mm), [8]371,[5] pp, publisher's scarlet cloth, spine lettered in gold, top edge stained scarlet, in a beige typographic jacket printed in scarlet, priced at the flap; only 1,500 copies were printed, the smallest run of any Faulkner first English edition (matching As I Lay Dying and These 13). CAUTION: both editions are dated 1934, so the year alone will not separate them — go by publisher imprint and cloth colour (dark blue = US first; scarlet = UK first English). Precedence rests on the bibliographic ordering (Massey 438 before 439; Petersen A16.1 before A16.2) and on consistent ABAA/ILAB dealer practice of describing only the Smith & Haas issue as the first edition and the Chatto as the first British edition; the exact US and UK publication months are not established in the sources consulted, though a New York Sun review of 16 April 1934 places US publication by mid-April.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The reprint tell for the US issue is the copyright page: later Smith & Haas printings are stated there, whereas the first printing carries no statement at all.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Doctor Martino and Other Stories* by William Faulkner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/doctor-martino-and-other-stories
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.