# Is "Shane" by Jack Schaefer a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Shane by Jack Schaefer (Houghton Mifflin, 1949) is identified by: First printing has the date "1949" on the TITLE PAGE (as well as on the copyright page) and is bound in tan / light-brown (sometimes described as cream) cloth stamped in dark brown; [viii], 214 pp.; first-issue dust jacket with its price printed at the front flap. US Houghton Mifflin, Boston (1949) is the true first — Schaefer's first book, revised and expanded from his 1946 magazine serial.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has the date "1949" on the TITLE PAGE (as well as on the copyright page) and is bound in tan / light-brown (sometimes described as cream) cloth stamped in dark brown; [viii], 214 pp.; first-issue dust jacket with its price printed at the front flap
- Later copies ("first edition, second/later printing") are bound in BLUE cloth and have an UNDATED title page — the 1949 date then survives only on the copyright page
- The dated title page (with the tan cloth) is the decisive first-printing point; blue cloth or an undated title page = not the first printing
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jack Schaefer |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1949 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has the date "1949" on the TITLE PAGE (as well as on the copyright page) and is bound in tan / light-brown (sometimes… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing has the date "1949" on the TITLE PAGE (as well as on the copyright page) and is bound in tan / light-brown (sometimes described as cream) cloth stamped in dark brown; [viii], 214 pp.; first-issue dust jacket with its price printed at the front flap. Later copies ("first edition, second/later printing") are bound in BLUE cloth and have an UNDATED title page — the 1949 date then survives only on the copyright page. The dated title page (with the tan cloth) is the decisive first-printing point; blue cloth or an undated title page = not the first printing.

## Is this the true first?
US Houghton Mifflin, Boston (1949) is the true first — Schaefer's first book, revised and expanded from his 1946 magazine serial. The dated-title-page / tan-cloth combination is decisive. The first UK edition followed from Andre Deutsch, London, 1954 (red boards lettered in gilt at the spine); the US edition precedes it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No prominent book-club issue of the 1949 first; the practical confusion is the later Houghton printings (blue cloth, undated title page) and the many later reprints and 1953 film tie-ins. Blue cloth or an undated title page = not the first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Shane* by Jack Schaefer a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shane
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.