# Is "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959) is identified by: True first: McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1959, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page, bound in blue-and-teal cloth with the spine stamped in silver; illustrated endpapers and roughly 20 text illustrations. US first (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959) is the true first; the Hodder & Stoughton (London) edition followed later the same year (1959) as the UK first and is secondary in precedence.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1959, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page, bound in blue-and-teal cloth with the spine stamped in silver; illustrated endpapers and roughly 20 text illustrations
- Trade first-issue jacket points: the publisher's code '36352' is present on the rear dust-jacket panel; the first-state jacket is priced at the front flap (price present, unclipped) with the line 'Book-of-the-Month Club Selection' printed below the price, and a photograph of Lansing with a short biography on the rear panel
- Corroborated by two independent sources (The First Edition Rare Books
- AbeBooks trade dealer listings)
- Publisher imprint reads McGraw-Hill Book Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Alfred Lansing |
| Publisher | McGraw-Hill Book Company |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1959, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page, bound in blue-and-teal cloth with… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first: McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1959, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page, bound in blue-and-teal cloth with the spine stamped in silver; illustrated endpapers and roughly 20 text illustrations. Trade first-issue jacket points: the publisher's code '36352' is present on the rear dust-jacket panel; the first-state jacket is priced at the front flap (price present, unclipped) with the line 'Book-of-the-Month Club Selection' printed below the price, and a photograph of Lansing with a short biography on the rear panel. Corroborated by two independent sources (The First Edition Rare Books; AbeBooks trade dealer listings).

## Is this the true first?
US first (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959) is the true first; the Hodder & Stoughton (London) edition followed later the same year (1959) as the UK first and is secondary in precedence.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
IMPORTANT TRAP: the true first-state jacket itself reads 'Book-of-the-Month Club Selection,' so that wording is NOT a book-club tell. The actual Book-of-the-Month Club copy ALSO states 'First Edition' on the copyright page but is identified by a blind 'dimple'/depression on the rear board and lacks the jacket's '36352' publisher's code; the trade first carries the code and no BOMC blindstamp. Later second-state jackets show a higher flap price and replace the author photo with advertising blurbs; modern Basic Books / Carroll & Graf reprints are common and are not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage* by Alfred Lansing a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/endurance-shackletons-incredible-voyage
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.