Is My Copy of 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. 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 month-level precedence between London and New York is not established by two independent authorities, so 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.P-040035

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.

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.

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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.