Is My Monte Walsh a First Edition?

The points of issue

• "First Edition, First Printing" is stated on the copyright page — quoted verbatim in the Page 1 Books (Special Collection Room) listing on AbeBooks and reported independently in the Biblio dealer record for the 1963 Houghton Mifflin issue
• Octavo, 501 pp, bound with a cream cloth spine over brown boards; issued in a priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap on unclipped copies
• Houghton Mifflin's better-known house rule — the date in arabic numerals on the title page of first printings, removed on later printings — is documented in the standard publisher guides (ILAB, Quill & Brush, Evening Land Books) only for the period up to about the 1950s, so for a 1963 book the copyright-page statement is the operative point rather than the title-page date
• A 1963-dated Houghton Mifflin copy lacking that statement is a later printing
• LCCN 63013684
• OCLC 1289952

How Houghton Mifflin marked a first edition

• Merger-lineage window (Hurd & Houghton 1864 → Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1878–1880 → Houghton, Mifflin & Co. from 1880): still no 'First Edition' wording; identify by title-page date matching the copyright date, by the earli…
• Late-19th to mid-20th century (c.1880s–1950s): the operative tell is the title page. Houghton Mifflin almost invariably printed the year of first publication, in Arabic numerals, on the title page of a first printing and…

Full Houghton Mifflin first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 1963 is the true first worldwide and the only edition seriously collected; the census is confirmed on publisher, city and year. The census's UK claim — André Deutsch, 1965 — could NOT be confirmed and should be treated as an error: no such edition surfaced in any source consulted. The earliest UK issue documented is a Corgi (Transworld, London) paperback of 1966; André Deutsch did publish Schaefer's Mavericks in London in 1968, which is the likely source of the confusion. No UK edition competes with the US first on precedence in any event.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of Monte Walsh is documented in the sources consulted, and none should be asserted. The operative reprint tell is the copyright page: a 1963-dated Houghton Mifflin copy without the "First Edition, First Printing" statement is a later printing, not a first. Later reissues — the Corgi (London) 1966 paperback, a University of Nebraska Press edition, and a University of New Mexico Press edition carrying a Marc Simmons foreword — are reprints or "first thus," not firsts.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Monte Walsh a first edition?

A first edition of Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer (Houghton Mifflin) is identified by: "First Edition, First Printing" is stated on the copyright page — quoted verbatim in the Page 1 Books (Special Collection Room) listing on AbeBooks and reported independently in the Biblio dealer record for the 1963 Houghton Mifflin issue.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 1963 is the true first worldwide and the only edition seriously collected; the census is confirmed on publisher, city and year.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club edition of Monte Walsh is documented in the sources consulted, and none should be asserted. The operative reprint tell is the copyright page: a 1963-dated Houghton Mifflin copy without the "First Edition, First Printing" statement is a later printing, not a first. Later reissues — the Corgi (London) 1966 paperback, a University of Nebraska Press edition, and a University of New Mexico Press edition carrying a Marc Simmons foreword — are reprints or "first thus," not firsts.

I have a first edition of Monte Walsh — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.