# Is "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte Press, 1991) is identified by: US first edition published by Delacorte Press, New York, June 1991. The UK edition was retitled Cross Stitch (Century, 1991) and is a genuinely separate, far scarcer printing of about 2,000 copies; collectors treat the US Outlander first and the UK Cross Stitch first as parallel firsts under different titles, neither a state of the other.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US first edition published by Delacorte Press, New York, June 1991
- The true first printing has the complete number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page and the original printed price on the dust-jacket front flap
- Jacket art by Kinuko Y. Craft
- Original first-printing run was roughly 25,000 copies
- Many market copies are later printings with a shortened number line
- Publisher imprint reads Delacorte Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Diana Gabaldon |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
| Year | 1991 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US first edition published by Delacorte Press, New York, June 1991 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
US first edition published by Delacorte Press, New York, June 1991. The true first printing has the complete number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page and the original printed price on the dust-jacket front flap. Jacket art by Kinuko Y. Craft. Original first-printing run was roughly 25,000 copies. Many market copies are later printings with a shortened number line.

## Is this the true first?
The UK edition was retitled Cross Stitch (Century, 1991) and is a genuinely separate, far scarcer printing of about 2,000 copies; collectors treat the US Outlander first and the UK Cross Stitch first as parallel firsts under different titles, neither a state of the other. Both appeared in 1991; the US publisher changed the title from Gabaldon's original Cross Stitch because it sounded like a craft project.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The trap here is later Delacorte printings, not a book-club issue. Verify the FULL number line ending in 1, plus the original printed price on the jacket flap; later trade printings break the line (starting at 2 or higher) and price-clipped or later jackets lose the price point.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Outlander* by Diana Gabaldon a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/outlander
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.