Is My Stoner a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: The Viking Press, New York, published 23 April 1965, 278 pp., octavo
• Bound in quarter marigold (yellow) cloth over chocolate-brown paper-covered boards, stamped in brown; dealers describe the cloth variously as 'quarter marigold' or 'half yellow', which are the same binding described differently
• First printing is so stated on the copyright page; there is no number line on this printing, so the copyright-page statement is the operative point
• A jacket with the price present at the flap is correct for the first issue; price-clipping is common and is not itself a later-printing tell
• The book sold fewer than 2,000 copies and was out of print within a year, so first printings in jacket are genuinely scarce
• The exact verbatim wording of the copyright-page statement was not reproduced by any source consulted — confirm the statement is present rather than matching it to a quoted string

How The Viking Press, New York marked a first edition

• Earliest era (1925 to roughly 1937): Viking used no first-edition statement and instead noted later printings; treat the absence of any later-printing notice, with the title-page/copyright dates matching, as the first.
• From about 1937 onward: first printings state "First published by The Viking Press in [year]" or "Published by The Viking Press in [year]" with no later-printing notice; later printings were noted, and from the 1980s a n…

Full The Viking Press, New York 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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 CORRECTED. The census gave the UK first as 'Longmans 1966'; this is unsupported and appears to be an error. The first British edition is Allen Lane, London, 1973 — eight years after Viking — and is reported by British dealers as scarcer than the American first. Both are collected: Viking (New York, 1965) is unambiguously the true first; Allen Lane (London, 1973) is the first English edition. The 1972 Pocket Books paperback, 1998 University of Arkansas Press, 2003 Vintage and 2006 New York Review Books Classics reissues are 'first thus' only — the NYRB reissue drove the modern revival but carries no first-edition standing.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition tells for the 1965 Viking printing were documented in the sources consulted; given the very small trade printing and poor sales, no contemporaneous US book-club issue was identified. Treat any copy in the Viking binding without the copyright-page first-printing statement as a later printing rather than assuming a club issue.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Stoner a first edition?

A first edition of Stoner by John Williams (The Viking Press, New York) is identified by: True first: The Viking Press, New York, published 23 April 1965, 278 pp., octavo.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED.

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

No book-club edition tells for the 1965 Viking printing were documented in the sources consulted; given the very small trade printing and poor sales, no contemporaneous US book-club issue was identified. Treat any copy in the Viking binding without the copyright-page first-printing statement as a later printing rather than assuming a club issue.

I have a first edition of Stoner — 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.