# Is "In Search of Bisco" by Erskine Caldwell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of In Search of Bisco by Erskine Caldwell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965) is identified by: First printing, with no statement of later printing on the copyright page. US first edition (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1965).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing, with no statement of later printing on the copyright page
- Civil-rights-era reportage in which Caldwell searches the South for a Black boyhood friend
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erskine Caldwell |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Year | 1965 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing, with no statement of later printing on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing, with no statement of later printing on the copyright page. Civil-rights-era reportage in which Caldwell searches the South for a Black boyhood friend.

## Is this the true first?
US first edition (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1965).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings exist; identify the true first by the absence of any later-printing statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *In Search of Bisco* by Erskine Caldwell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/in-search-of-bisco
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.