# Is "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Still Alice by Lisa Genova (iUniverse, 2007) is identified by: The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6 (9780595440092), collated at roughly 292 pages. The US self-published iUniverse edition (2007) is the true first edition; the Simon & Schuster hardcover (New York, 6 January 2009) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6
- , collated at roughly 292 pages
- The month of issue is recorded inconsistently — Open Library gives 13 July 2007, retail listings 1 January 2007 — so the year, not the month, is the reliable datum
- The decisive structural fact is that iUniverse is a print-on-demand imprint: copies are manufactured to order, there are no distinguishable printings, and a copy produced years later is typographically identical to an early one
- Identification therefore rests on the iUniverse imprint and the 0-595-44009-6 ISBN on the title and copyright pages, not on any printing statement
- Dealer descriptions report no edition or printing statement on the iUniverse copyright page, which is consistent with iUniverse practice but was not confirmable against a physical-copy collation in the sources consulted — treat the absence as expected rather than as a proof point
- Publisher imprint reads iUniverse

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lisa Genova |
| Publisher | iUniverse |
| Year | 2007 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first is the author's self-published iUniverse issue, 2007: softcover, ISBN 0-595-44009-6 (9780595440092), collated at roughly 292 pages. The month of issue is recorded inconsistently — Open Library gives 13 July 2007, retail listings 1 January 2007 — so the year, not the month, is the reliable datum. The decisive structural fact is that iUniverse is a print-on-demand imprint: copies are manufactured to order, there are no distinguishable printings, and a copy produced years later is typographically identical to an early one. Identification therefore rests on the iUniverse imprint and the 0-595-44009-6 ISBN on the title and copyright pages, not on any printing statement. Dealer descriptions report no edition or printing statement on the iUniverse copyright page, which is consistent with iUniverse practice but was not confirmable against a physical-copy collation in the sources consulted — treat the absence as expected rather than as a proof point. The first trade edition is the January 2009 Simon & Schuster hardcover, ISBN 9781439116883, which carries a full number line with the 1 present.

## Is this the true first?
The US self-published iUniverse edition (2007) is the true first edition; the Simon & Schuster hardcover (New York, 6 January 2009) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover. Both are collected — the iUniverse for precedence, the 2009 hardcover as the first properly published appearance. The census claim of "Pocket/Simon & Schuster 2009" needs one correction of nuance: the 2009 imprint is recorded as Pocket Books by Open Library and Wikipedia and as Gallery Books by several retailers and dealers. Gallery Books was the successor that absorbed Pocket's trade line in 2009, so both names attach to the same book under one ISBN — an imprint-naming artifact, not two different editions. The cleanest independent corroboration of the precedence is cataloguing rather than dealer copy: two separate library MARC records (the 2009 Wheeler large-print issue and the 2010 Pocket paperback) both carry the note "Originally published: New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2007." No British or foreign-language edition precedes the US.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The print-on-demand original has no book-club issue and no reprint state to distinguish — later iUniverse copies are indistinguishable from early ones. That is the central trap on this title: an iUniverse copy proves the edition but cannot prove an early strike, and no one can honestly claim otherwise. For the 2009 trade hardcover, the tells are the ordinary ones — a number line lacking the 1 marks a later printing — and the 2015 film-tie-in and subsequent Gallery/Pocket paperback reissues are "first thus" only.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Still Alice* by Lisa Genova a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/still-alice
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.