# Is "Peyton Place" by Grace Metalious a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (Julian Messner, Inc., 1956) is identified by: Julian Messner printed no edition or printing statement, so the first issue shows only the '1956' copyright with no later-printing notation; it is bound in publisher's slick black cloth with silver spine lettering, [vi] + 372 pp. US Julian Messner (New York), published 24 September 1956, is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Julian Messner printed no edition or printing statement, so the first issue shows only the '1956' copyright with no later-printing notation; it is bound in publisher's slick black cloth with silver spine lettering, [vi] + 372 pp. octavo, and issued in a priced dust jacket (price present at the front flap)
- Identification is genuinely difficult: same-year later Messner printings reused the identical jacket and are routinely mistaken for the first, so the most useful early-state tell is textual — the schoolteacher character is named 'Tomas Makris,' which after a libel settlement was changed to 'Michael Rossi' in post-1956 reprintings and all later editions
- Note that 'Makris' marks the original 1956 setting but does not by itself separate the first printing from other 1956 printings
- Publisher imprint reads Julian Messner, Inc.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Grace Metalious |
| Publisher | Julian Messner, Inc. |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Julian Messner printed no edition or printing statement, so the first issue shows only the '1956' copyright with no later-printing… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Julian Messner printed no edition or printing statement, so the first issue shows only the '1956' copyright with no later-printing notation; it is bound in publisher's slick black cloth with silver spine lettering, [vi] + 372 pp. octavo, and issued in a priced dust jacket (price present at the front flap). Identification is genuinely difficult: same-year later Messner printings reused the identical jacket and are routinely mistaken for the first, so the most useful early-state tell is textual — the schoolteacher character is named 'Tomas Makris,' which after a libel settlement was changed to 'Michael Rossi' in post-1956 reprintings and all later editions. Note that 'Makris' marks the original 1956 setting but does not by itself separate the first printing from other 1956 printings.

## Is this the true first?
US Julian Messner (New York), published 24 September 1956, is the true first. The first UK edition was Frederick Muller (London), 1957 — an expurgated text with the character renamed 'Michael Kyros'; US precedence is clear and the Messner first is the collected point, with the Muller first secondary.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A same-year fifth Messner printing appeared in the identical priced jacket; Cardinal/Pocket and Dell paperback reprints and later hardcover issues followed. Any copy carrying a later-printing notation, a book-club blindstamp, or the 'Michael Rossi' text is not the 1956 first issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Peyton Place* by Grace Metalious a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/peyton-place
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.