# Is "Our Town: A Play in Three Acts" by Thornton Wilder a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Our Town: A Play in Three Acts by Thornton Wilder (Coward-McCann, New York, 1938) 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. 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Coward-McCann, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thornton Wilder |
| Publisher | Coward-McCann, New York |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Coward-McCann applied no "First Edition" statement to books first published in the United States, so a first printing is identified… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Our Town: A Play in Three Acts* by Thornton Wilder a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/our-town-a-play-in-three-acts
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.