# Is "Riders of the Purple Sage" by Zane Grey a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (Harper & Brothers, 1912) is identified by: First edition, first printing carries three lines of copyright, the last reading "Published January, 1912," and it bears NO Harper letter date-code (Harper's month/year code came into use in 1912; the January-1912 first predates its use — a copy showing any letter code is a later printing). US Harper & Brothers (1912) is the true first — the archetypal Western novel.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing carries three lines of copyright, the last reading "Published January, 1912," and it bears NO Harper letter date-code (Harper's month/year code came into use in 1912; the January-1912 first predates its use — a copy showing any letter code is a later printing)
- First state has no publisher advertisements and no boxed list of other Zane Grey titles on the copyright page; "MCMXII" appears on the title page
- Bound in tan / light-brown cloth stamped in gilt and purple with a color pictorial paste-on to the front cover
- 8vo, 334 pp., with four black-and-white plates (frontispiece under tissue guard)
- The first-issue dust jacket is famously rare
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zane Grey |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1912 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing carries three lines of copyright, the last reading "Published January, 1912," and it bears NO Harper letter… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing carries three lines of copyright, the last reading "Published January, 1912," and it bears NO Harper letter date-code (Harper's month/year code came into use in 1912; the January-1912 first predates its use — a copy showing any letter code is a later printing). First state has no publisher advertisements and no boxed list of other Zane Grey titles on the copyright page; "MCMXII" appears on the title page. Bound in tan / light-brown cloth stamped in gilt and purple with a color pictorial paste-on to the front cover; 8vo, 334 pp., with four black-and-white plates (frontispiece under tissue guard). The first-issue dust jacket is famously rare.

## Is this the true first?
US Harper & Brothers (1912) is the true first — the archetypal Western novel. The decisive point is the copyright page reading "Published January, 1912" with NO letter code and no boxed Zane Grey title-list. Caution on the Harper code: month comes first, year second, so "A-M" = January 1912 and "M-M" = DECEMBER 1912 — the latter a later 1912 printing, never the first. Jacketed first printings are exceptionally rare.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
There is no 1912 book-club edition. The confusion is (1) later Harper states/printings that add a boxed list of Grey's earlier titles and publisher adverts to the copyright page (and later printings that eventually do carry Harper letter codes), and (2) Grosset & Dunlap and other reprint-house editions — cheaply bound, carrying their own imprint, some issued as photoplay / movie-still editions. The decisive check is the "Published January, 1912" line with no code and no title-list — not a letter code.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Riders of the Purple Sage* by Zane Grey a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/riders-of-the-purple-sage
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.