# Is "Purity" by Jonathan Franzen a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Purity by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015) is identified by: Copyright page states 'First edition, 2015' with a complete number line descending to 1. US FSG first edition; the UK Fourth Estate edition also appeared in 2015, so the two are effectively near-simultaneous.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Copyright page states 'First edition, 2015' with a complete number line descending to 1
- First-printing copies are bound in light gray boards
- The first-state dust jacket carries a photographic portrait of a young woman on the front panel against a plain white ground, and should retain the printed cover price (jacket unclipped); the presence of that printed price, not any figure, is the point collectors check
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jonathan Franzen |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Year | 2015 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Copyright page states 'First edition, 2015' with a complete number line descending to 1 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Copyright page states 'First edition, 2015' with a complete number line descending to 1. First-printing copies are bound in light gray boards. The first-state dust jacket carries a photographic portrait of a young woman on the front panel against a plain white ground, and should retain the printed cover price (jacket unclipped); the presence of that printed price, not any figure, is the point collectors check.

## Is this the true first?
US FSG first edition; the UK Fourth Estate edition also appeared in 2015, so the two are effectively near-simultaneous. Collectors treat the US FSG as the primary first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No notable book-club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Purity* by Jonathan Franzen a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/purity
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.