# Is "Dust Tracks on a Road" by Zora Neale Hurston a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston (J. B. Lippincott Company, 1942) is identified by: The true first edition is J. US Lippincott 1942 is the true first (English-language original, American author); a later UK edition (Hutchinson) follows and is not the first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition is J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1942, octavo, bound in beige/tan cloth stamped in dark brown on front board and spine, and issued in a pictorial dust jacket
- The first printing is identified by the words "First Edition" stated on the copyright page: consistent with Lippincott's practice from the 1920s of stating "First Edition" on firsts (a number row was not added until the mid-1970s), so a genuine first shows the statement and no number line
- Recorded in the standard bibliographies as Blockson 5189, Bruccoli & Clark I:192, and Jordan 323.4
- Note that the 1942 Lippincott text was censored by the publisher; later "restored" editions that reinstate cut chapters are separate later printings, not this first
- Publisher imprint reads J. B. Lippincott Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zora Neale Hurston |
| Publisher | J. B. Lippincott Company |
| Year | 1942 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition is J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1942, octavo, bound in beige/tan cloth stamped in dark brown on front board and… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first edition is J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1942, octavo, bound in beige/tan cloth stamped in dark brown on front board and spine, and issued in a pictorial dust jacket. The first printing is identified by the words "First Edition" stated on the copyright page: consistent with Lippincott's practice from the 1920s of stating "First Edition" on firsts (a number row was not added until the mid-1970s), so a genuine first shows the statement and no number line. Recorded in the standard bibliographies as Blockson 5189, Bruccoli & Clark I:192, and Jordan 323.4. Note that the 1942 Lippincott text was censored by the publisher; later "restored" editions that reinstate cut chapters are separate later printings, not this first.

## Is this the true first?
US Lippincott 1942 is the true first (English-language original, American author); a later UK edition (Hutchinson) follows and is not the first. US precedes.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings drop the "First Edition" statement. The expanded/restored-text editions (Harper & Row 1984; HarperPerennial reissues with Henry Louis Gates Jr. / Maya Angelou apparatus) are "first thus" traps, not the 1942 first. No common contemporaneous US book-club printing identified.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Dust Tracks on a Road* by Zora Neale Hurston a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/dust-tracks-on-a-road
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.