# Is "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse" by James Weldon Johnson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse by James Weldon Johnson (The Viking Press, New York, 1927) is identified by: The first-printing copyright page reads 'Copyright, 1927, by The Viking Press, Inc. US first — census claim corrected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first-printing copyright page reads 'Copyright, 1927, by The Viking Press, Inc. / Printed in U.S.A. / First Published in April, 1927' and carries NO further printing lines; later Viking printings add successive dates beneath that line (July 1927, March 1928, January 1929, July 1930, and onward)
- Collation vii, 56 pp, with eight full-page drawings by Aaron Douglas and lettering by C. B. Falls; composed and printed by Abbott Press & Mortimer-Walling, Inc., New York
- Bound with a black cloth spine and gilt / sepia-gold decorated paper-covered boards (described variously as quarter or three-quarter cloth)
- The preface is dated in print 'New York City, 1927.' References: Blockson 5369
- Work 459
- Publisher imprint reads The Viking Press, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Weldon Johnson |
| Publisher | The Viking Press, New York |
| Year | 1927 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The first-printing copyright page reads 'Copyright, 1927, by The Viking Press, Inc. / Printed in U.S.A. / First Published in April, 1927'… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first-printing copyright page reads 'Copyright, 1927, by The Viking Press, Inc. / Printed in U.S.A. / First Published in April, 1927' and carries NO further printing lines; later Viking printings add successive dates beneath that line (July 1927, March 1928, January 1929, July 1930, and onward). Collation vii, 56 pp, with eight full-page drawings by Aaron Douglas and lettering by C. B. Falls; composed and printed by Abbott Press & Mortimer-Walling, Inc., New York. Bound with a black cloth spine and gilt / sepia-gold decorated paper-covered boards (described variously as quarter or three-quarter cloth). The preface is dated in print 'New York City, 1927.' References: Blockson 5369; Work 459.

## Is this the true first?
US first — census claim corrected. The Viking Press, New York, April 1927 precedes the British edition from George Allen & Unwin, London, 1929 by two years. The census note of 'US only' is wrong: the Allen & Unwin edition exists and is collected as the first UK edition (copies are found in purple cloth), but Viking 1927 is the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue documented at first publication. The critical trap is that Viking's SECOND printing is also dated 1927 (July 1927) — a 1927 date alone does not establish a first printing; only the copyright page, showing 'First Published in April, 1927' with no later printing dates added beneath, settles it. Viking kept the book in print for decades and numbered its printings on the copyright page (a seventeenth printing of 1959 is recorded in the trade), and later reissues (Viking 1969; Penguin 1990, the first Penguin edition) are common.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse* by James Weldon Johnson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/gods-trombones-seven-negro-sermons-in-verse
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.