# Is "In the Best Families (UK: Even in the Best Families)" by Rex Stout a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of In the Best Families (UK: Even in the Best Families) by Rex Stout (Viking Press, 1950) is identified by: Viking Press, New York, 1950, first printing. US Viking edition (1950) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Viking Press, New York, 1950, first printing
- Nero Wolfe novel; concludes the Arnold Zeck trilogy (with And Be a Villain and The Second Confession)
- Publisher imprint reads Viking Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rex Stout |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Viking Press, New York, 1950, first printing |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Viking Press, New York, 1950, first printing. Nero Wolfe novel; concludes the Arnold Zeck trilogy (with And Be a Villain and The Second Confession).

## Is this the true first?
US Viking edition (1950) is the true first. The UK Collins Crime Club edition, titled Even in the Best Families, followed in 1951.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later collected in the Viking omnibus volumes Five of a Kind (1961) and Triple Zeck (1974); reprints follow.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *In the Best Families (UK: Even in the Best Families)* by Rex Stout a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/in-the-best-families-uk-even-in-the-best-families
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.