Is My Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The trade first prints "First printing" (First Delacorte printing) on the copyright page and runs to 243 pages
• It is bound in dark blue cloth with a gilt facsimile Vonnegut signature and line design stamped bright on the front board, the spine lettered in red with gilt, and red endpapers
• The first-state dust jacket has a white ground with a color clown-face illustration on the front panel and a black-and-white photograph of Vonnegut in a suit on the rear panel; the jacket is priced on the front flap and the printed price should be present

How Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence marked a first edition

• "First printing" or "First Edition" stated on the copyright page, frequently paired with a number line ending in 1
• Vonnegut-era Delacorte / Seymour Lawrence books: look for an explicit "First printing" statement on the copyright page (e.g. Slaughterhouse-Five is a stated first printing)

Full Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence 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. 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.
5. 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?

True first is the 1976 Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence trade hardcover. Two collectible parallel states followed roughly a month later: a Delacorte signed/numbered limited issue of 250 copies (slipcased, without jacket) and a Franklin Library full-leather "First Edition Society" issue with all edges gilt, silk endpapers, and a two-page introductory message from Vonnegut plus a commissioned portrait that appear in no other edition. Neither parallel state precedes the trade issue.P-018245

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The Book Club Edition is blind-stamped on the rear board and lacks the printed price on the front jacket flap; it is typically printed on thinner, lighter bulk. The trade first's jacket retains the printed front-flap price.P-018246

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! a first edition?

A first edition of Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut (Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence) is identified by: The trade first prints "First printing" (First Delacorte printing) on the copyright page and runs to 243 pages.

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. True first is the 1976 Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence trade hardcover.

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

The Book Club Edition is blind-stamped on the rear board and lacks the printed price on the front jacket flap; it is typically printed on thinner, lighter bulk. The trade first's jacket retains the printed front-flap price.

I have a first edition of Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! — 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.