# Is "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon Books, New York, 2000) is identified by: Pantheon issued the hardcover (ISBN 978-0-375-41034-5) and the trade paperback (ISBN 978-0-375-70376-8) simultaneously on 7 March 2000; the hardcover is the collected form. US only — Pantheon Books, New York, 2000, is the true first; there is no earlier or rival foreign first, and no original-language question arises.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Pantheon issued the hardcover (ISBN 978-0-375-41034-5) and the trade paperback (ISBN 978-0-375-70376-8) simultaneously on 7 March 2000; the hardcover is the collected form
- A first printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page and carries a complete number line in which 1 is present
- The single biggest trap is the title page: its foot reads '2nd Edition' on every copy ever printed, including the true first, because Danielewski designated the earlier serialized internet release the 'the printed pricet edition' — a '2nd Edition' title page is therefore expected on a first printing and is NOT a reprint tell
- Dealers accordingly catalogue true firsts as 'Second Edition, First Printing.' In the colored issue the word 'house' (and its foreign equivalents Haus, maison) prints in blue; the word 'minotaur' and all struck-through passages print in red; 'A Novel' on the cover prints in purple; and the copyright page's 'First Edition' is itself printed struck through in purple
- Some first hardcovers are signed by Danielewski with a large blue 'Z' (reported at roughly 705 copies)
- Jacket should be present and priced at the flap, with the jacket ISBN matching the book block
- Publisher imprint reads Pantheon Books, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mark Z. Danielewski |
| Publisher | Pantheon Books, New York |
| Year | 2000 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Pantheon issued the hardcover (ISBN 978-0-375-41034-5) and the trade paperback (ISBN 978-0-375-70376-8) simultaneously on 7 March 2000; the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Pantheon issued the hardcover (ISBN 978-0-375-41034-5) and the trade paperback (ISBN 978-0-375-70376-8) simultaneously on 7 March 2000; the hardcover is the collected form. A first printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page and carries a complete number line in which 1 is present. The single biggest trap is the title page: its foot reads '2nd Edition' on every copy ever printed, including the true first, because Danielewski designated the earlier serialized internet release the 'the printed pricet edition' — a '2nd Edition' title page is therefore expected on a first printing and is NOT a reprint tell. Dealers accordingly catalogue true firsts as 'Second Edition, First Printing.' In the colored issue the word 'house' (and its foreign equivalents Haus, maison) prints in blue; the word 'minotaur' and all struck-through passages print in red; 'A Novel' on the cover prints in purple; and the copyright page's 'First Edition' is itself printed struck through in purple. Some first hardcovers are signed by Danielewski with a large blue 'Z' (reported at roughly 705 copies). Jacket should be present and priced at the flap, with the jacket ISBN matching the book block. CORRECTION to the census note: the full-color state is not a 2000 first-printing variant. 'The Remastered Full-Color Edition' is a later edition published by Pantheon in May 2006 (hardcover ISBN 978-0-375-42052-8; the trade paperback was retitled under that name at the same ISBN), which added color to the appendix illustrations. The 2000 first is the two-color (blue/red) state, and dealers describe first hardcovers as '2-Color Edition.' A distinct black-and-white first-printing state is not documented in any source consulted and should not be relied on.

## Is this the true first?
US only — Pantheon Books, New York, 2000, is the true first; there is no earlier or rival foreign first, and no original-language question arises. Hardcover and trade paperback were published simultaneously on 7 March 2000, with a small hardcover release carrying signed inserts reported on 29 February 2000; the hardcover is the collected form and the paperback is a simultaneous, not subsequent, issue. UK editions follow the US. The author's conceit that the 'the printed pricet edition' was the internet release is a fiction internal to the novel, not a bibliographical edition, and does not displace the Pantheon 2000 printing as the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented in the sources consulted. The live traps are reprint/'first thus' rather than BCE: (a) the 2006 'Remastered Full-Color Edition,' which is routinely mis-sold as the first because the trade paperback shares the 2000 first's ISBN and reproduces a 2000 copyright date; (b) the 2000 trade paperback being taken for the hardcover first; and (c) the '2nd Edition' title-page statement causing genuine firsts to be misdescribed as second editions and genuine later printings to be sold as firsts. The number line on the copyright page — not the title page and not the color of the text — is the operative test.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/house-of-leaves
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.