# Is "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (Houghton Mifflin, 1999) is identified by: Issued as a Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) trade-paperback original; the true first is the paperback original, with a full number line on the copyright page and no reference to the Pulitzer Prize. Lahiri's debut.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued as a Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) trade-paperback original; the true first is the paperback original, with a full number line on the copyright page and no reference to the Pulitzer Prize
- Lahiri's debut
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jhumpa Lahiri |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1999 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Issued as a Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) trade-paperback original; the true first is the paperback original, with a full number line on… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Issued as a Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) trade-paperback original; the true first is the paperback original, with a full number line on the copyright page and no reference to the Pulitzer Prize. Lahiri's debut.

## Is this the true first?
Lahiri's debut. The desirable first is the 1999 Mariner paperback original; there was no simultaneous US hardcover trade first. A hardcover appeared only just after the Pulitzer announcement, so the paperback original precedes it. The UK Flamingo edition follows.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition in the classic sense; later printings show a shortened number line, and the post-Pulitzer hardcover and later softcovers reference the prize. Watch for later hardcover reissues offered as the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Interpreter of Maladies* by Jhumpa Lahiri a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/interpreter-of-maladies
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.