# Is "One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression" by Eudora Welty a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression by Eudora Welty (Random House, 1971) is identified by: Random House, New York, November 1971, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page. The Random House trade first (November 1971) was preceded by a signed limited edition of 300 slipcased copies, also Random House 1971; that signed limited is therefore the true first issue, with the trade printing the true first for most collectors.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Random House, New York, November 1971, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page
- A small square quarto snapshot album reproducing Welty's own Depression-era photographs, with roughly 98 duotone plates and her own six-page foreword, the images arranged in four parts titled Workday, Saturday, Sunday, and Portraits
- Bound in dark cloth and issued in a pictorial dust jacket printed largely in black, with the printed price present on the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Eudora Welty |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Random House, New York, November 1971, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Random House, New York, November 1971, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page. A small square quarto snapshot album reproducing Welty's own Depression-era photographs, with roughly 98 duotone plates and her own six-page foreword, the images arranged in four parts titled Workday, Saturday, Sunday, and Portraits. Bound in dark cloth and issued in a pictorial dust jacket printed largely in black, with the printed price present on the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
The Random House trade first (November 1971) was preceded by a signed limited edition of 300 slipcased copies, also Random House 1971; that signed limited is therefore the true first issue, with the trade printing the true first for most collectors. First appearance of the work in book form, and first appearance of Welty's photographs as a collected album.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings drop the stated 'First Edition' line; the University Press of Mississippi later reissued an expanded edition, which is a separate, later book with a different foreword apparatus and should not be confused with the 1971 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression* by Eudora Welty a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/one-time-one-place-mississippi-in-the-depression
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.