# Is "Pipe Night" by John O'Hara a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Pipe Night by John O'Hara (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1945) is identified by: First printing stated on the copyright page, with no later-printing notice present. US first, published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce in New York in March 1945.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing stated on the copyright page, with no later-printing notice present
- A collection of thirty-one short stories and sketches with a preface by Wolcott Gibbs; octavo, xiv plus 205 pages, produced under wartime paper economies
- Original cloth in the publisher's decorated black-and-orange pictorial dust jacket
- The unclipped jacket should retain its printed front-flap price
- Publisher imprint reads Duell, Sloan and Pearce
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John O'Hara |
| Publisher | Duell, Sloan and Pearce |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing stated on the copyright page, with no later-printing notice present |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing stated on the copyright page, with no later-printing notice present. A collection of thirty-one short stories and sketches with a preface by Wolcott Gibbs; octavo, xiv plus 205 pages, produced under wartime paper economies. Original cloth in the publisher's decorated black-and-orange pictorial dust jacket. The unclipped jacket should retain its printed front-flap price.

## Is this the true first?
US first, published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce in New York in March 1945. The UK Faber and Faber edition followed in 1946, so the Duell, Sloan and Pearce printing holds precedence as the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings carry an explicit later-printing notice on the copyright page (copies marked third printing and beyond are recorded). Note also the separate 1946 Forum Books reprint edition, which is not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Pipe Night* by John O'Hara a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/pipe-night
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.