The points of issue
Lowercase title 'in our time' (prose vignettes only, no full short stories). Printed on Rives handmade paper; tan boards with a red newsprint-collage design, front board lettered in black; woodcut frontispiece portrait of Hemingway by Henry Strater. Numbered, with a limitation statement. The intended run was 300 copies but a printing error reduced it to roughly 170 released. Distinct from the 1925 Boni & Liveright 'In Our Time'.
Is this the true first?
True first of the prose-vignette text. The 1925 New York 'In Our Time' (capitalized, fourteen full stories with the vignettes as interchapters) is a separate, expanded book that is itself collectible.
Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club. The 1925 Boni & Liveright 'In Our Time' first issue carries the dust jacket with endorsement blurbs by Ford Madox Ford, Gilbert Seldes, John Dos Passos and Donald Ogden Stewart; it is Hanneman A3a.
Frequently asked questions
Is my copy of in our time a first edition?
Look for these first-edition points: Lowercase title 'in our time' (prose vignettes only, no full short stories). Printed on Rives handmade paper; tan boards with a red newsprint-collage design, front board lettered in black; woodcut frontispiece portrait of Hemingway by Henry Strater. Numbered, with a limitation statement. The intended run was 300 copies but a printing error reduced it to roughly 170 released. Distinct from the 1925 Boni & Liveright 'In Our Time'.
How do I tell the first printing from a later one?
Check the copyright page for the publisher's first-printing convention and confirm the points above. True first of the prose-vignette text. The 1925 New York 'In Our Time' (capitalized, fourteen full stories with the vignettes as interchapters) is a separate, expanded book that is itself collectible.
Is the book-club edition the same as the first?
No book club. The 1925 Boni & Liveright 'In Our Time' first issue carries the dust jacket with endorsement blurbs by Ford Madox Ford, Gilbert Seldes, John Dos Passos and Donald Ogden Stewart; it is Hanneman A3a.
I have a first edition of in our time — what should I do?
If you're clearing books, New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup in Albuquerque, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies aren't lost. To sell, see the author's collecting guide. Either way, nothing valuable ends up in a landfill.