Is My Our Town: A Play in Three Acts a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Coward-McCann applied no "First Edition" statement to books first published in the United States, so a first printing is identified negatively: the copyright page carries no impression or later-printing notice, and subsequent Coward-McCann printings do name the impression
• (The torch-colophon test used on Coward-McCann books into the mid-1930s does not apply to a 1938 title.) The first printing is an octavo of 128 pages, bound in publisher's olive-green cloth with printed paper labels on the spine and front board — dealers describe the labels as blue — with pictorial endpapers and the top edge stained blue, which is frequently faded on surviving copies
• The pictorial dust jacket should be unclipped with the price present at the flap
• One dealer (Second Story Books) describes the first-state jacket as one making no mention of the Pulitzer Prize, with a "Pulitzer Prize Winner" sticker applied to the front of some jackets after the May 1938 award but before new jackets were printed; this jacket-state distinction appears in only that one description among the sources consulted, so it is reported here rather than established
• Dealers cite Bruccoli & Clark III:367 as the standard reference

How Coward-McCann, New York marked a first edition

• After 1935: 'First American Edition' stated on the copyright page for books first published OUTSIDE the US; NO statement made on books first published in the US (so a US-first book carries no edition statement at all).

Full Coward-McCann, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

US true first: Coward-McCann, New York, 1938 — the book was set and printed around the Broadway premiere of 4 February 1938 and preceded the Pulitzer award. The census note's claim of a later "UK Longmans issue" could NOT be confirmed and should not be published as stated: no 1938–39 Longmans, Green (London) issue surfaced in any source consulted; the only Longmans, Green London printing located is 1956, far too late to be a co-eval UK first. Only the US edition is collected as the first. The principal "first thus" trap is the Samuel French acting edition (1939), which prints a revised prompt-script text rather than the Coward-McCann text; Harper/Perennial and later Samuel French issues are reprints.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for Our Town in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tells are the Coward-McCann rule (later impressions are named on the copyright page, first printings are silent) and the physically distinct Samuel French acting edition in paper wrappers, which is an acting text, not a book-club printing.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Our Town: A Play in Three Acts a first edition?

A first edition of Our Town: A Play in Three Acts by Thornton Wilder (Coward-McCann, New York) is identified by: Coward-McCann applied no "First Edition" statement to books first published in the United States, so a first printing is identified negatively: the copyright page carries no impression or later-printing notice, and subsequent Coward-McCann printings do name the impression.

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. US true first: Coward-McCann, New York, 1938 — the book was set and printed around the Broadway premiere of 4 February 1938 and preceded the Pulitzer award.

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

No book-club issue is documented for Our Town in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tells are the Coward-McCann rule (later impressions are named on the copyright page, first printings are silent) and the physically distinct Samuel French acting edition in paper wrappers, which is an acting text, not a book-club printing.

I have a first edition of Our Town: A Play in Three Acts — 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.