# Is "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (The Macmillan Company, 1936) is identified by: First printing: the copyright page reads 'Published May, 1936' under the Macmillan imprint, with the year in arabic ('Copyright, 1936, by The Macmillan Company') and NO later-printing line; the second printing changes this to 'Published June, 1936,' and subsequent printings advance the month/year. US Macmillan, May 1936, is the true first — there is no earlier or competing English-language edition to displace it.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing: the copyright page reads 'Published May, 1936' under the Macmillan imprint, with the year in arabic ('Copyright, 1936, by The Macmillan Company') and NO later-printing line; the second printing changes this to 'Published June, 1936,' and subsequent printings advance the month/year
- The text block is 1,037 pages, single column; bound in gray cloth lettered in blue on the front and spine
- First-issue dust jacket: on the rear panel's list of Macmillan books, 'Gone with the Wind' sits in the SECOND (right-hand) column, NOT at the head of the list (later issues move it to the top of the left column); the price is present at the lower front flap
- Because the book was printed many times in 1936 and original jackets are scarce and frequently facsimiled, the first-state jacket is the point collectors rely on to confirm a first issue
- Publisher imprint reads The Macmillan Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Margaret Mitchell |
| Publisher | The Macmillan Company |
| Year | 1936 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing: the copyright page reads 'Published May, 1936' under the Macmillan imprint, with the year in arabic ('Copyright, 1936, by… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing: the copyright page reads 'Published May, 1936' under the Macmillan imprint, with the year in arabic ('Copyright, 1936, by The Macmillan Company') and NO later-printing line; the second printing changes this to 'Published June, 1936,' and subsequent printings advance the month/year. The text block is 1,037 pages, single column; bound in gray cloth lettered in blue on the front and spine. First-issue dust jacket: on the rear panel's list of Macmillan books, 'Gone with the Wind' sits in the SECOND (right-hand) column, NOT at the head of the list (later issues move it to the top of the left column); the price is present at the lower front flap. Because the book was printed many times in 1936 and original jackets are scarce and frequently facsimiled, the first-state jacket is the point collectors rely on to confirm a first issue.

## Is this the true first?
US Macmillan, May 1936, is the true first — there is no earlier or competing English-language edition to displace it. Identify it by the 'Published May, 1936' statement with no later-printing line AND, decisively, by the first-state jacket (title in the second column of the rear-panel list, price present at the flap); later printings advance the month to 'Published June, 1936' and beyond. Author-signed copies are genuinely rare, as Mitchell seldom signed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club and later Macmillan reprints are the classic trap. The Macmillan book-club printing is set in DOUBLE columns at 689 pages and carries the date in Roman numerals (MCMXXXVI) on the copyright/title page, versus the true first's single-column 1,037 pages and arabic '1936'; book-club copies also typically show a blind-stamped dot or small square on the rear board and come in an unpriced jacket. Facsimile/reprint copies are caught by later copyright-renewal statements (e.g., 1964) or an ISBN, neither of which a genuine 1936 first carries.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Gone with the Wind* by Margaret Mitchell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/gone-with-the-wind
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.