# Is "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977) is identified by: The first printing carries a complete number line on the copyright page containing the "1" — recorded by fedpo as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1." The presence of the "1" is the operative test; later printings strip the low digits, and a recorded seventh printing shows only the 7-through-10 remnant. The true first is the US edition: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1977 (published September 1977) — the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing carries a complete number line on the copyright page containing the "1" — recorded by fedpo as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1." The presence of the "1" is the operative test; later printings strip the low digits, and a recorded seventh printing shows only the 7-through-10 remnant
- Collation: 201 pages
- Library of Congress catalog number 77002691
- Binding: brown cloth / linen boards with silver-stamped spine lettering, and red-and-yellow head- and tailbands
- Jacket: front panel carries the flies-and-devil-tail illustration by Barney Plotkin; the rear panel bears a photograph of the Ocean Avenue house together with four promotional blurbs
- The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jay Anson |
| Publisher | Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ |
| Year | 1977 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing carries a complete number line on the copyright page containing the "1" — recorded by fedpo as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1."… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing carries a complete number line on the copyright page containing the "1" — recorded by fedpo as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1." The presence of the "1" is the operative test; later printings strip the low digits, and a recorded seventh printing shows only the 7-through-10 remnant. Collation: 201 pages; Library of Congress catalog number 77002691. Binding: brown cloth / linen boards with silver-stamped spine lettering, and red-and-yellow head- and tailbands. Jacket: front panel carries the flies-and-devil-tail illustration by Barney Plotkin; the rear panel bears a photograph of the Ocean Avenue house together with four promotional blurbs. The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap. Separately reported but NOT independently confirmed: commentary (traceable to Stephen Kaplan via Wikipedia, with no independent corroboration found) holds that in the original hardcover Father Pecoraro's car is an "old tan Ford," changed to a Chevrolet Nova in later editions before reverting — this is an edition-level text change, not a demonstrated first-printing-versus-later-printing point within the Prentice-Hall issue, and should not be used as an identification test.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the US edition: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1977 (published September 1977) — the census claim is confirmed. No competing UK or original-language edition holds precedence; the book was written in English and first issued in the United States. The census is also right about the trap: the ubiquitous Bantam mass-market paperbacks (from 1978) are reprints, not firsts, as are the later Suntup Editions fine-press issues — all "first thus" at best. Only the Prentice-Hall hardcover with the complete number line is the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A Book Club Edition was issued and is common; it is distinguished from the Prentice-Hall trade first by binding and construction rather than by the title page. BCE tells: an unpriced jacket (printed without a price, as opposed to a price-clipped trade jacket), a blind stamp / embossed device on the rear board, lighter-weight boards and paper stock, and a smaller trim than the trade first. The BCE lacks the trade first's complete number line. Side-by-side binding comparisons are published by fedpo and nocloo.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Amityville Horror* by Jay Anson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-amityville-horror
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.