Is My Night (Un di Velt Hot Geshvign / La Nuit) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Buenos Aires: Tsentral-Farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine (Central Union of Polish Jews in Argentina), 1956
• Yiddish text, titled און די וועלט האט געשוויגן (Un di velt hot geshvign, "And the World Remained Silent")
• The decisive identification point is the series: it was issued as volume 117 of the 176-volume Yiddish series דאָס פּוילישע יידנטום (Dos poylishe yidntum / "Polish Jewry," 1946–1966), under the direction of Mark Turkov
• Bound in black and brown cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front board
• There is no printing statement and no number line — the 1956 Buenos Aires imprint and the series volume number carry the identification
• Pagination is reported inconsistently and the conflict is unresolved here: the standard accounts give 245 pp., while Manhattan Rare Books, describing a copy in hand, gives 253 pp

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
3. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

Original-language precedence sits with the Yiddish 1956 Buenos Aires edition; the census claim is correct. Three distinct editions are separately collected and all should be named. (1) The Yiddish first, above. (2) The French: La Nuit, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1958, 178 pp., with the preface by François Mauriac and the dedication to Chlomo, Sarah and Tzipora — this is a heavily cut and reworked text rather than a straight translation of the Yiddish, and it is the text from which the English descends. Jérôme Lindon accepted the book in 1957 and the title was settled in May 1958; copies dated 1957 do not exist. (3) The first English, translated from the French by Stella Rodway, published in 1960 in two editions: London: MacGibbon & Kee, whose copyright page states "First Published by MacGibbon & Kee 1960" (jacket designed by Cowan); and New York: Hill and Wang, whose copyright page states "First American Edition September 1960," in publisher's black cloth lettered in silver, approximately 116 pp., in a first-issue priced jacket (price present at the flap) with a photograph of Wiesel in glasses at the rear flap. Hill & Wang's own "First American Edition" wording implies a prior English-language edition and the London issue is generally treated as the first in English, but I could not establish month-level precedence between London and New York against two independent authorities — so both are described here and neither is ranked.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1956 Yiddish or the 1958 French in the sources consulted. For English, the 1960 Hill & Wang and MacGibbon & Kee printings are the collected ones; the ubiquitous Avon and Bantam paperbacks are later reprints. The most common trap is the 2006 Hill & Wang edition (Oprah's Book Club): it is a wholly new translation by Marion Wiesel, a "first thus" of a different text, not a reprint of the 1960 Rodway translation. La Nuit remains in print from Minuit in pocket format with modern ISBNs; those are not the 1958 edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Night (Un di Velt Hot Geshvign / La Nuit) a first edition?

A first edition of Night (Un di Velt Hot Geshvign / La Nuit) by Elie Wiesel (Tsentral-Farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine / Union Central Israelita Polaca en la Argentina) is identified by: Buenos Aires: Tsentral-Farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine (Central Union of Polish Jews in Argentina), 1956.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). Original-language precedence sits with the Yiddish 1956 Buenos Aires edition; the census claim is correct.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1956 Yiddish or the 1958 French in the sources consulted. For English, the 1960 Hill & Wang and MacGibbon & Kee printings are the collected ones; the ubiquitous Avon and Bantam paperbacks are later reprints. The most common trap is the 2006 Hill & Wang edition (Oprah's Book Club): it is a wholly new translation by Marion Wiesel, a "first thus" of a different text, not a reprint of the 1960 Rodway translation. La Nuit remains in print from Minuit in pocket

I have a first edition of Night (Un di Velt Hot Geshvign / La Nuit) — 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.