# Is "Heaven's My Destination" by Thornton Wilder a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Heaven's My Destination by Thornton Wilder (Longmans, Green & Co., 1934) is identified by: PRECEDENCE TRAP: although the book is routinely offered as a 1935 Harper first, the true first is the UK Longmans, Green & Co. TRUE FIRST IS UK — Longmans, Green (London), 3 Dec 1934.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- PRECEDENCE TRAP: although the book is routinely offered as a 1935 Harper first, the true first is the UK Longmans, Green & Co
- (London) edition, published 3 December 1934, roughly a month ahead of the US. Per Longmans' convention the English first states "First Published 1934" on the copyright page (no examined-copy jacket points could be sourced here, so treat UK binding/jacket detail as unconfirmed)
- The US Harper & Brothers edition, dated 1935 on the title page, is identified by "First Edition" stated on the copyright page with the Harper code "M-I" — which decodes to December 1934 (month-letter M = December; year-letter I = 1934), internally consistent with a book printed Dec 1934 and published 2 January 1935; it is bound in gray cloth lettered in black and issued in a priced pictorial dust jacket (price present at the front flap)
- Two independent sources corroborate the M-I code, and the Thornton Wilder Society/author site confirms the UK-before-US sequence
- Publisher imprint reads Longmans, Green & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thornton Wilder |
| Publisher | Longmans, Green & Co. |
| Year | 1934 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | PRECEDENCE TRAP: although the book is routinely offered as a 1935 Harper first, the true first is the UK Longmans, Green & Co |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
PRECEDENCE TRAP: although the book is routinely offered as a 1935 Harper first, the true first is the UK Longmans, Green & Co. (London) edition, published 3 December 1934, roughly a month ahead of the US. Per Longmans' convention the English first states "First Published 1934" on the copyright page (no examined-copy jacket points could be sourced here, so treat UK binding/jacket detail as unconfirmed). The US Harper & Brothers edition, dated 1935 on the title page, is identified by "First Edition" stated on the copyright page with the Harper code "M-I" — which decodes to December 1934 (month-letter M = December; year-letter I = 1934), internally consistent with a book printed Dec 1934 and published 2 January 1935; it is bound in gray cloth lettered in black and issued in a priced pictorial dust jacket (price present at the front flap). Two independent sources corroborate the M-I code, and the Thornton Wilder Society/author site confirms the UK-before-US sequence.

## Is this the true first?
TRUE FIRST IS UK — Longmans, Green (London), 3 Dec 1934. The US Harper & Brothers edition (dated 1935; code M-I = Dec 1934) follows on 2 Jan 1935. Name both; the American 'first' is a precedence trap.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Heaven's My Destination was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection, so BOMC copies of the US Harper text circulate: they typically show a blind-stamp/dot to the lower rear board and an unpriced jacket. A US Harper copy lacking the "First Edition" statement / M-I code, or an unpriced/clipped jacket, is not the first-issue trade copy.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Heaven's My Destination* by Thornton Wilder a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/heavens-my-destination
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.