Is My Noon Wine a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The entire edition is a signed limited issue: 250 numbered copies, every copy signed by Porter, with the limitation and number appearing in the book — there was no separate trade issue, so a correct copy is by definition numbered and signed
• Copies are royal octavo (roughly 10-the printed price x 6-the printed price inches), bound in patterned cloth over boards with printed paper labels mounted to the spine and to the upper front cover, collating [4], 65, [3] pp., with the fore-edge untrimmed, and issued in the publisher's plain cardboard slipcase (described as paper-covered and, by one dealer, as green)
• One caution: a minority of dealer descriptions call the covering textured paper rather than cloth; three independent ABAA-grade descriptions agree on patterned cloth over boards, so cloth is the reading adopted here
• No dust jacket is called for — the slipcase is the issue state, and its presence, along with both labels intact, is the condition point
• There is no price point on this title: it was issued as a limited edition without a priced jacket

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the US 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?

Schuman's (Detroit), 1937, is the true first and the first separate/book appearance of the text — US-only, with no British edition and no original-language question. The trap to flag is the collected text: Noon Wine was gathered with 'Old Mortality' and the title story in Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels (Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1939), which is a genuine and collected first edition of THAT collection but only a 'first thus' for Noon Wine itself. The text also had a prior magazine appearance in Story in 1937 before the Schuman's issue; sources consulted disagree on the month, so the month is not stated. Porter preferred 'short novel' to 'novella' for these works.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists or could exist for the Schuman's edition — the whole printing was 250 numbered, signed copies with no trade issue. The reprint trap runs through the collection instead: the 1939 Harcourt, Brace Pale Horse, Pale Rider and its many later printings, Modern Library and paperback issues carry the text but are not the first separate edition. Any unnumbered, unsigned copy purporting to be the Schuman's Noon Wine is not right.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Noon Wine a first edition?

A first edition of Noon Wine by Katherine Anne Porter (Schuman's) is identified by: The entire edition is a signed limited issue: 250 numbered copies, every copy signed by Porter, with the limitation and number appearing in the book — there was no separate trade issue, so a correct copy is by definition numbered and signed.

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. Schuman's (Detroit), 1937, is the true first and the first separate/book appearance of the text — US-only, with no British edition and no original-language question.

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

No book-club issue exists or could exist for the Schuman's edition — the whole printing was 250 numbered, signed copies with no trade issue. The reprint trap runs through the collection instead: the 1939 Harcourt, Brace Pale Horse, Pale Rider and its many later printings, Modern Library and paperback issues carry the text but are not the first separate edition. Any unnumbered, unsigned copy purporting to be the Schuman's Noon Wine is not right.

I have a first edition of Noon Wine — 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.