Is My Sartoris a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing carries the 1929 copyright with no printing statement on the copyright page
• Harcourt, Brace noted its later printings, so any printing line indicates a later state
• Octavo, 380 pages, bound in black cloth with the title lettered in red on the spine and front cover, top edge stained red
• 1,998 copies were printed
• The jacket was designed by Arthur Hawkins Jr
• Dealers cite Petersen A5.1 (given by some as A5a) and Massey 289

How Harcourt, Brace and Company marked a first edition

• 1921-1931: no statement on first printings; the first-edition notice (when later adopted) was simply absent, so rely on no later-printing notice.

Full Harcourt, Brace and 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 UK 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?

Census claim confirmed. The true first is Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, published 31 January 1929 — the only Faulkner title Harcourt, Brace issued, and the debut of Yoknapatawpha County. The first UK edition is Chatto & Windus, London, 1932; it is collected as the English first but does not precede. The first-thus trap is Flags in the Dust (Random House, 1973, edited with an introduction by Douglas Day), which restores the full manuscript that Harcourt cut by roughly 40,000 words to make Sartoris. It is the first edition of the complete text, not a first edition of Sartoris, and the two are frequently conflated in catalogue copy.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No first-printing book-club issue is documented. The common reprints are the Grosset & Dunlap issue and the later Random House issue, both plainly stated. Because the Harcourt first itself carries no edition statement, the characteristic pitfall is a reprint-publisher copy that also has nothing on the copyright page — check the imprint on the spine and title page and the black cloth/red lettering/red top edge combination, not the copyright page alone.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Sartoris a first edition?

A first edition of Sartoris by William Faulkner (Harcourt, Brace and Company) is identified by: The first printing carries the 1929 copyright with no printing statement on the copyright page; Harcourt, Brace noted its later printings, so any printing line indicates a later state.

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. Census claim confirmed.

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

No first-printing book-club issue is documented. The common reprints are the Grosset & Dunlap issue and the later Random House issue, both plainly stated. Because the Harcourt first itself carries no edition statement, the characteristic pitfall is a reprint-publisher copy that also has nothing on the copyright page — check the imprint on the spine and title page and the black cloth/red lettering/red top edge combination, not the copyright page alone.

I have a first edition of Sartoris — 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.