# Is "Mrs. Bridge" by Evan S. Connell, Jr. a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, Jr. (The Viking Press, 1959) is identified by: True first published by The Viking Press, New York, 1959; the copyright page reads 'PUBLISHED IN 1959 BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC.' (with Canadian issue by Macmillan) and carries no later-printing notice, which is Viking's first-issue convention for the period — subsequent printings were separately noted. US Viking 1959 is the unambiguous true first (Connell's first novel; a portion appeared earlier in The Paris Review as 'The Beau Monde of Mrs.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first published by The Viking Press, New York, 1959; the copyright page reads 'PUBLISHED IN 1959 BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC.' (with Canadian issue by Macmillan) and carries no later-printing notice, which is Viking's first-issue convention for the period — subsequent printings were separately noted
- Bound in two-tone pink and tan cloth, the spine lettered in gilt and black; the dust jacket was designed by Susanna Suba and its pink spine panel is notoriously fugitive, so a bright, unfaded spine panel is the key jacket point
- Priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads The Viking Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Evan S. Connell, Jr. |
| Publisher | The Viking Press |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first published by The Viking Press, New York, 1959; the copyright page reads 'PUBLISHED IN 1959 BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC.' (with… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first published by The Viking Press, New York, 1959; the copyright page reads 'PUBLISHED IN 1959 BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC.' (with Canadian issue by Macmillan) and carries no later-printing notice, which is Viking's first-issue convention for the period — subsequent printings were separately noted. Bound in two-tone pink and tan cloth, the spine lettered in gilt and black; the dust jacket was designed by Susanna Suba and its pink spine panel is notoriously fugitive, so a bright, unfaded spine panel is the key jacket point. Priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
US Viking 1959 is the unambiguous true first (Connell's first novel; a portion appeared earlier in The Paris Review as 'The Beau Monde of Mrs. Bridge'). The census note of a 'UK Heinemann 1959' could NOT be corroborated and is corrected: no 1959 British edition was located — the earliest UK appearances traced are later (a Heinemann issue dated 1960 per marketplace listings only, and a 1983 Sinclair Browne, London, reprint). The US edition is the collected first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No true book-club issue identified for the 1959 Viking first. Later Fawcett paperbacks (1970s), North Point (1981), Shoemaker & Hoard (2005) and Penguin issues are reprints/'first thus,' not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mrs. Bridge* by Evan S. Connell, Jr. a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mrs-bridge
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.