# Is "Native Son" by Richard Wright a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper & Brothers, 1940) is identified by: CORRECTED FIRST-EDITION POINTS for Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1940): 1. US Harper & Brothers trade first is the true first; UK Gollancz (1940) is later.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- CORRECTED FIRST-EDITION POINTS for Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1940): 1
- HARPER LETTER CODE — partly right, location WRONG. The first printing carries the Harper two-letter date code "A-P" (A = January, P = 1940)
- This is correct and IS the standard first-printing identifier
- BUT the claim that the code sits "at the foot of the last text page" is FALSE. On Harper & Brothers books of this era the code appears on the COPYRIGHT PAGE (title-page verso) — and for Native Son specifically it appears directly below the "FIRST EDITION" statement on the verso of the title page (booksellers consistently describe "A-P below the edition statement")
- The foot-of-last-page numeral row is a LATER Harper & Row practice (post-1969), not applicable to a 1940 book
- So: code is "A-P," and a true first ALSO has "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page; the code is NOT on the last text page
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard Wright |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1940 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | CORRECTED FIRST-EDITION POINTS for Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1940): 1 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
CORRECTED FIRST-EDITION POINTS for Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1940): 1. HARPER LETTER CODE — partly right, location WRONG. The first printing carries the Harper two-letter date code "A-P" (A = January, P = 1940). This is correct and IS the standard first-printing identifier. BUT the claim that the code sits "at the foot of the last text page" is FALSE. On Harper & Brothers books of this era the code appears on the COPYRIGHT PAGE (title-page verso) — and for Native Son specifically it appears directly below the "FIRST EDITION" statement on the verso of the title page (booksellers consistently describe "A-P below the edition statement"). The foot-of-last-page numeral row is a LATER Harper & Row practice (post-1969), not applicable to a 1940 book. So: code is "A-P," and a true first ALSO has "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page; the code is NOT on the last text page. 2. JACKET the printed price — CORRECT, but incomplete. The first-issue dust jacket is with its printed price. Add the more diagnostic point: the first-issue jacket is GREEN AND YELLOW with NO review blurbs on the spine; a second state adds review quotes to the spine. The cloth is dark blue. The bare "the printed price" alone is weak as a point. 3. BOMC / EXPURGATION CLAIM — FALSE and BACKWARDS. The claim that "the trade first carries the unexpurgated text" is WRONG. The opposite is true: the Book-of-the-Month Club required Wright to cut/soften sexual and racial passages (e.g., the movie-theater masturbation scene, Mary's sexual arousal of Bigger) BEFORE publication, and the 1940 Harper TRADE first edition was printed FROM THAT SAME EXPURGATED TEXT. The novel was not published in its full, unexpurgated form until the Library of America edition of 1991 (text restored by editors preparing the LOA volumes; intro/notes by Arnold Rampersad). Therefore NO 1940 printing — trade or club — carries the unexpurgated text. Any selling point implying the trade first is textually "complete/uncensored" is false. TRUE-FIRST NOTE — the framing is CORRECT. The US Harper & Brothers trade first (1940, dark blue cloth, "FIRST EDITION" + "A-P" on copyright page) is the true first edition; the UK Gollancz edition (1940) is later/secondary. The Harper "A-P" code does identify the first printing. (Caveat: collectors distinguish the trade first from the simultaneous Book-of-the-Month Club issue, which can look similar but lacks the "A-P" code and is not the true first.)

## Is this the true first?
US Harper & Brothers trade first is the true first; UK Gollancz (1940) is later. The Harper letter-code identifies the first printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-of-the-Month Club edition lacks the Harper letter code, has a blind-stamp, uses bulkier paper, and carries the expurgated text — a textually distinct and lesser issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Native Son* by Richard Wright a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/native-son
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.