Is My Raintree County a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948
• The primary point is the title page: the first printing carries the date "1948" on the title page, and the copyright page carries both 1947 and 1948
• This follows Houghton Mifflin's practice of the period — the date in Arabic numerals on the title page of first printings, removed for subsequent printings
• Octavo, [xiv], 1066 pp, with two maps and pictorial endpapers of faux nineteenth-century wood engravings (the frontispiece map's Shawmucky River traces the initials JWS)
• Bound in green cloth, a raintree stamped in gold and black on the front board, gold lettering blocked in black on the spine, yellow topstain; no book-club blindstamp dot at the lower rear board
• First-issue jacket: the price is present at the top of the front flap, the back panel carries a photograph of the author over a three-paragraph biography whose third paragraph states that he "has four children," and there is no mention anywhere on the jacket of the Book-of-the-Month Club

How Houghton Mifflin Company marked a first edition

• Merger-lineage window (Hurd & Houghton 1864 → Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1878–1880 → Houghton, Mifflin & Co. from 1880): still no 'First Edition' wording; identify by title-page date matching the copyright date, by the earli…
• Late-19th to mid-20th century (c.1880s–1950s): the operative tell is the title page. Houghton Mifflin almost invariably printed the year of first publication, in Arabic numerals, on the title page of a first printing and…

Full Houghton Mifflin Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 1948 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed. The book was published on January 5, 1948; Lockridge died by suicide on March 6, 1948, roughly two months later, at 33 — the single lifetime edition follows from that. The precedence problem on this title is not UK-vs-US but trade-vs-club: Raintree County was the Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, chosen before publication, and the club issue was produced concurrently from the same setting, so trade firsts and club copies circulate side by side and must be separated on the physical points above. The first printing was a very large one (reported at 50,000 copies), so a surviving trade first is not a rarity. No UK edition was corroborated in the sources consulted and none is described here.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Book-of-the-Month Club copies are the dominant trap on this title and were made concurrently from the Houghton Mifflin setting. The tells are: a blindstamped dot (or small blind device) at the lower rear board, which the trade issue does not have; and a jacket that mentions the Book-of-the-Month Club selection and/or lacks the price at the front flap. The club printing does not carry 1948 on the title page. Because the BOMC objected to the text before publication and three words were cut after roughly 5,000 copies had been printed, the page-152 reading also varies across early copies — treat it as corroboration of an early state, not as proof of the trade first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Raintree County a first edition?

A first edition of Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr. (Houghton Mifflin Company) is identified by: Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 1948 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Book-of-the-Month Club copies are the dominant trap on this title and were made concurrently from the Houghton Mifflin setting. The tells are: a blindstamped dot (or small blind device) at the lower rear board, which the trade issue does not have; and a jacket that mentions the Book-of-the-Month Club selection and/or lacks the price at the front flap. The club printing does not carry 1948 on the title page. Because the BOMC objected to the text before publication and three words were cut after r

I have a first edition of Raintree County — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.