# Is "Northern Lights" by Tim O'Brien a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Northern Lights by Tim O'Brien (Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, New York, 1975) is identified by: First printing: per the Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence convention of the period the copyright page states "First printing" with no later printing indicated — a copy naming any subsequent printing is not a first. US Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence (New York, August 1975) is the true first — the census claim holds.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing: per the Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence convention of the period the copyright page states "First printing" with no later printing indicated — a copy naming any subsequent printing is not a first
- Binding is a dark blue cloth backstrip over purple/lilac paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in silver and purple, with purple endpapers
- 8vo, 356 pp
- (one dealer loosely reads the dark blue backstrip as black)
- Issued in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap
- Production note that matters for identification: this is an unusual perfect-bound hardcover, cheaply produced, and separation or cracking of the text block at the front is endemic to the first printing rather than evidence of a later issue
- Publisher imprint reads Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tim O'Brien |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, New York |
| Year | 1975 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing: per the Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence convention of the period the copyright page states "First printing" with no later… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing: per the Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence convention of the period the copyright page states "First printing" with no later printing indicated — a copy naming any subsequent printing is not a first. Binding is a dark blue cloth backstrip over purple/lilac paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in silver and purple, with purple endpapers; 8vo, 356 pp. (one dealer loosely reads the dark blue backstrip as black). Issued in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap. Production note that matters for identification: this is an unusual perfect-bound hardcover, cheaply produced, and separation or cracking of the text block at the front is endemic to the first printing rather than evidence of a later issue. TRANSPARENCY: the copyright-page wording is corroborated here from the publisher's general house practice — two independent publisher-identification references (ILAB and Quill & Brush) both record that Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence "previously stated first printing" — and not from a dealer transcription of this title's own copyright page; confirm against a copy in hand.

## Is this the true first?
US Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence (New York, August 1975) is the true first — the census claim holds. The first British edition followed from Calder & Boyars (London, 1976), carrying the 1975 copyright; the UK hardback issue is reported at roughly 900 copies and is uncommon in its own right, so both editions are collected — name both. The census description of this as O'Brien's first novel is correct but needs the standard qualifier: it is his first novel and his SECOND book, the memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone (1973) preceding it. First-thus trap: the Broadway Books reissue of September 1999 (ISBN 9780767904414) is a later edition, not a first; frequently repeated reports that O'Brien revised or cut the text for that reissue could NOT be confirmed from the publisher's own description, so treat the 1975 Delacorte text as the first-edition text and verify any "revised text" claim independently before repeating it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented for the 1975 Delacorte issue. Reprint tell: any printing statement on the copyright page other than "First printing." Later editions to know: the Dell mass-market paperback (ISBN 0440066646) and the 1999 Broadway Books reissue are reprints. Because the book is perfect-bound and cheaply made, condition flaws — cracked or separated text block, toned board edges, foxed fore-edge — are characteristic of the first printing and must not be misread as reprint indicators.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Northern Lights* by Tim O'Brien a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/northern-lights
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.