# Is "Great Plains" by Ian Frazier a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Great Plains by Ian Frazier (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989) is identified by: The copyright page of the first printing reads "First edition, 1989" with no other printing indication — Farrar, Straus and Giroux's stated-first practice from 1965 onward was "First published (year)," "First printing (year)," or "First edition (year)" on the copyright page, with no number line on trade books of this period (FSG did not adopt a full number row until roughly 2002). US-only true first: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1989.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The copyright page of the first printing reads "First edition, 1989" with no other printing indication — Farrar, Straus and Giroux's stated-first practice from 1965 onward was "First published (year)," "First printing (year)," or "First edition (year)" on the copyright page, with no number line on trade books of this period (FSG did not adopt a full number row until roughly 2002)
- Absence of a number line on a 1989 copy is therefore normal and is not a defect
- Later printings are also dated 1989 and are found described by dealers as second, third and fourth printings, so the printing statement must be read alongside the edition statement
- Physical points: octavo, 290 pp., quarter-bound in a cloth backstrip (described by dealers as brown to orange) over green paper boards with gilt spine lettering; pictorial map endpapers front and rear; black-and-white illustrations
- Jacket is pictorial, with the price present at the front flap on unclipped copies
- No first-state text errors are documented for this title
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Giroux

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ian Frazier |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Year | 1989 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The copyright page of the first printing reads "First edition, 1989" with no other printing indication — Farrar, Straus and Giroux's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The copyright page of the first printing reads "First edition, 1989" with no other printing indication — Farrar, Straus and Giroux's stated-first practice from 1965 onward was "First published (year)," "First printing (year)," or "First edition (year)" on the copyright page, with no number line on trade books of this period (FSG did not adopt a full number row until roughly 2002). Absence of a number line on a 1989 copy is therefore normal and is not a defect. Later printings are also dated 1989 and are found described by dealers as second, third and fourth printings, so the printing statement must be read alongside the edition statement. Physical points: octavo, 290 pp., quarter-bound in a cloth backstrip (described by dealers as brown to orange) over green paper boards with gilt spine lettering; pictorial map endpapers front and rear; black-and-white illustrations. Jacket is pictorial, with the price present at the front flap on unclipped copies. No first-state text errors are documented for this title.

## Is this the true first?
US-only true first: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1989. The UK Faber and Faber hardcover (London, 1990) and the Penguin UK paperback (1990) both follow the American edition and are secondary; the Granta Books issue (2006, with an introduction by Robert Macfarlane) and the Picador/St. Martin's US paperback (ISBN 0312278502) are "first thus" reprints, not firsts. Only the FSG 1989 hardcover is collected as the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No title-specific book-club points are documented. A large-print book-club printing dated 1989 is offered by dealers and is a reprint, not the first. Standard club tells apply: no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed there instead), a blind stamp or colored deboss at the lower rear board near the spine, and smaller trim with lighter bulk than the trade volume.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Great Plains* by Ian Frazier a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/great-plains
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.