# Is "Texas" by James A. Michener a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Texas by James A. Michener (Random House, 1985) is identified by: The first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page TOGETHER WITH the Random House number line running down to 2. CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED: no Texas A&M (or State House Press) limited edition preceding the trade issue could be found; that claim is unsupported and appears to be a conflation.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page TOGETHER WITH the Random House number line running down to 2
- This is the Random House 1976–2000 convention and it is the trap on this title: the number line on both first and second printings ends (or begins) with a 2, so the line alone proves nothing — a copy with the 2-line but no "First Edition" statement is a second printing
- Both elements must be present
- Physical points: a single massive octavo volume (dealers collate xiii + 1,096 pp.; other sources report 1,076 — page-count reports vary), bound in blue cloth with gilt spine lettering and the star of Texas stamped on the front board; pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap on unclipped copies
- The first printing was extremely large — reported at 750,000 copies, said to be the largest initial run in the company's history — so stated firsts are common and condition is what separates copies
- No first-state text errors are documented
- Publisher imprint reads Random House

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James A. Michener |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1985 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page TOGETHER WITH the Random House number line running down to 2 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page TOGETHER WITH the Random House number line running down to 2. This is the Random House 1976–2000 convention and it is the trap on this title: the number line on both first and second printings ends (or begins) with a 2, so the line alone proves nothing — a copy with the 2-line but no "First Edition" statement is a second printing. Both elements must be present. Physical points: a single massive octavo volume (dealers collate xiii + 1,096 pp.; other sources report 1,076 — page-count reports vary), bound in blue cloth with gilt spine lettering and the star of Texas stamped on the front board; pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap on unclipped copies. The first printing was extremely large — reported at 750,000 copies, said to be the largest initial run in the company's history — so stated firsts are common and condition is what separates copies. No first-state text errors are documented.

## Is this the true first?
CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED: no Texas A&M (or State House Press) limited edition preceding the trade issue could be found; that claim is unsupported and appears to be a conflation. The collected first is the Random House trade edition, New York, 1985. Two other 1985–86 issues exist and must not be mistaken for it: (a) a Random House signed and numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies, 1985, in cloth (reported variously as burnt-orange, mauve or brown) with gilt spine lettering and the Texas star on the front board, in a publisher's slipcase — collected alongside the trade first, but precedence between the two is not documented in any source consulted, so neither should be asserted to precede the other; and (b) the University of Texas Press Sesquicentennial edition, 1986, two volumes in quarter leather, limited to 400 numbered copies signed by Michener and illustrator Charles Shaw, in a cloth slipcase — this is a year later and is a "first thus" trap, not the first. A UK hardcover (Secker & Warburg, London) also appeared and does not precede the American edition; the Corgi UK paperback (1986) is a reprint.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The strongest tell on this title: the book-club issue of Texas is a TWO-VOLUME set, whereas the Random House trade first is one thick single volume — any two-volume Random House "Texas" in jackets is the club issue, not the first (the two-volume University of Texas Press set is quarter leather in a slipcase and is a separate, later limited edition). Other standard club tells: no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed there), a blind stamp or colored deboss at the lower rear board, and smaller trim with lighter, bulkier paper.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Texas* by James A. Michener a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/texas
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.