# Is "How to Cook a Wolf" by M. F. K. Fisher a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of How to Cook a Wolf by M. F. K. Fisher (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1942) is identified by: First edition in gray cloth over boards, with the title stamped in white ink on the backstrip and a white-ink wolf vignette on the front board; octavo, about 261 pages, with an illustrated dust jacket. The US Duell, Sloan and Pearce 1942 printing is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition in gray cloth over boards, with the title stamped in white ink on the backstrip and a white-ink wolf vignette on the front board; octavo, about 261 pages, with an illustrated dust jacket
- The copyright page carries no later-printing statement
- Publisher imprint reads Duell, Sloan and Pearce
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | M. F. K. Fisher |
| Publisher | Duell, Sloan and Pearce |
| Year | 1942 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition in gray cloth over boards, with the title stamped in white ink on the backstrip and a white-ink wolf vignette on the front… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition in gray cloth over boards, with the title stamped in white ink on the backstrip and a white-ink wolf vignette on the front board; octavo, about 261 pages, with an illustrated dust jacket. The copyright page carries no later-printing statement.

## Is this the true first?
The US Duell, Sloan and Pearce 1942 printing is the true first. Fisher substantially revised the text for a 1951 edition, adding her bracketed commentary, so the 1942 printing is the only true first of the original text; the 1951 is a distinct revised edition, or first thus.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1951 revised edition and the 1954 omnibus The Art of Eating are later forms, not firsts. Advance review copies exist and predate the trade issue, but they are a separate state rather than the published first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *How to Cook a Wolf* by M. F. K. Fisher a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/how-to-cook-a-wolf
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.