# Is "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee and Walker Evans a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans (Houghton Mifflin, 1941) is identified by: Black cloth-covered boards stamped on spine in silver; a front block of 31 Walker Evans photographs (not 32), unpaginated; 'First Printing' indicated on the copyright page per Houghton Mifflin practice; first-issue photo-illustrated dust jacket priced 3.50. US Houghton Mifflin (Boston) true first, 1941.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Black cloth-covered boards stamped on spine in silver; a front block of 31 Walker Evans photographs (not 32), unpaginated; 'First Printing' indicated on the copyright page per Houghton Mifflin practice; first-issue photo-illustrated dust jacket priced 3.50
- Genuinely scarce (small printing of roughly 2,400 copies, only about 600 sold before remaindering)
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Agee and Walker Evans |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Black cloth-covered boards stamped on spine in silver; a front block of 31 Walker Evans photographs (not 32), unpaginated; 'First Printing'… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Black cloth-covered boards stamped on spine in silver; a front block of 31 Walker Evans photographs (not 32), unpaginated; 'First Printing' indicated on the copyright page per Houghton Mifflin practice; first-issue photo-illustrated dust jacket priced 3.50. Genuinely scarce (small printing of roughly 2,400 copies, only about 600 sold before remaindering).

## Is this the true first?
US Houghton Mifflin (Boston) true first, 1941. The 1960 expanded reissue is a 'first thus.'

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The common version is the 1960 reissue; the 1941 first is genuinely scarce. Distinguish carefully by the 31-photograph block, the silver-stamped black cloth, and the 'First Printing' copyright-page statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Let Us Now Praise Famous Men* by James Agee and Walker Evans a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/let-us-now-praise-famous-men
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.