# Is "Looking for Alaska" by John Green a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Looking for Alaska by John Green (Dutton Books, 2005) is identified by: The copyright page of the Dutton hardcover states "First Edition," but that statement is NOT the point of issue — dealers routinely report ninth- and twelfth-printing copies that still carry the "First Edition" line (one documented twelfth printing reads "First Edition" above a number line beginning 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12). The census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The copyright page of the Dutton hardcover states "First Edition," but that statement is NOT the point of issue — dealers routinely report ninth- and twelfth-printing copies that still carry the "First Edition" line (one documented twelfth printing reads "First Edition" above a number line beginning 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12)
- The operative test is the number line: a true first printing carries a complete number line ending in 1; any line whose lowest digit is 2 or higher is a later printing of the first edition
- Octavo, 221 pages, ISBN 0-525-47506-4
- Priced jacket, unclipped, price present at the flap
- Dating check on the jacket: the book was published in March 2005 and the Michael L. Printz Award was announced in January 2006, so first-printing jackets cannot carry the award medal as part of the printed jacket artwork — jackets with the Printz medal integrated into the design are a later jacket state
- An applied stick-on gold seal proves nothing, since a seal can be affixed to any copy
- Publisher imprint reads Dutton Books

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Green |
| Publisher | Dutton Books |
| Year | 2005 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The copyright page of the Dutton hardcover states "First Edition," but that statement is NOT the point of issue — dealers routinely report… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The copyright page of the Dutton hardcover states "First Edition," but that statement is NOT the point of issue — dealers routinely report ninth- and twelfth-printing copies that still carry the "First Edition" line (one documented twelfth printing reads "First Edition" above a number line beginning 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12). The operative test is the number line: a true first printing carries a complete number line ending in 1; any line whose lowest digit is 2 or higher is a later printing of the first edition. Octavo, 221 pages, ISBN 0-525-47506-4. Priced jacket, unclipped, price present at the flap. Dating check on the jacket: the book was published in March 2005 and the Michael L. Printz Award was announced in January 2006, so first-printing jackets cannot carry the award medal as part of the printed jacket artwork — jackets with the Printz medal integrated into the design are a later jacket state. An applied stick-on gold seal proves nothing, since a seal can be affixed to any copy.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed. Dutton Books, New York, March 2005 is the true first edition of Green's debut. HarperCollins Children's Books (London) published the first UK edition in 2006 (reported July 2006); it is collected only as the first British edition and has no precedence. Green writes in English, so no original-language question arises. First-thus traps: the Dutton Special 10th Anniversary Edition (2015) and the Dutton Deluxe Edition are new editions, not first editions.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No dedicated book-club issue is documented for this title. The recurring traps are (1) later Dutton printings that retain the "First Edition" statement — identify by number line only; (2) Speak trade-paperback reprints from 2006 onward (Speak is Penguin's paperback imprint); (3) the 2015 10th Anniversary and Deluxe editions; and (4) Dutton advance reading copies/proofs, which precede publication but are not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Looking for Alaska* by John Green a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/looking-for-alaska
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.