# Is "The Auctioneer" by Joan Samson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Auctioneer by Joan Samson (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1975) is identified by: The first printing carries Simon & Schuster's full number line running down to 1 on the copyright page; later printings strip the 1, and there is no "First Edition" statement to fall back on. US Simon and Schuster (New York) is the true first, and the census's 1975 date is correct against the evidence of the book itself: LCCN 75023337, with the Internet Archive's record of a physical copy and Open Library both giving Simon and Schuster, New York, 1975.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing carries Simon & Schuster's full number line running down to 1 on the copyright page; later printings strip the 1, and there is no "First Edition" statement to fall back on
- The jacket art is by Wendell Minor, and the jacket should be priced with the price present at the flap
- Dealers report the cloth inconsistently — grey in some descriptions, brown with white spine lettering in others — so binding colour is NOT a safe point on this title and should not be used to reject a copy on its own
- Collation is likewise reported inconsistently across the sources consulted and was not confirmed
- Publisher imprint reads Simon and Schuster, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joan Samson |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, New York |
| Year | 1975 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing carries Simon & Schuster's full number line running down to 1 on the copyright page; later printings strip the 1, and… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing carries Simon & Schuster's full number line running down to 1 on the copyright page; later printings strip the 1, and there is no "First Edition" statement to fall back on. The jacket art is by Wendell Minor, and the jacket should be priced with the price present at the flap. Dealers report the cloth inconsistently — grey in some descriptions, brown with white spine lettering in others — so binding colour is NOT a safe point on this title and should not be used to reject a copy on its own. Collation is likewise reported inconsistently across the sources consulted and was not confirmed.

## Is this the true first?
US Simon and Schuster (New York) is the true first, and the census's 1975 date is correct against the evidence of the book itself: LCCN 75023337, with the Internet Archive's record of a physical copy and Open Library both giving Simon and Schuster, New York, 1975. Note a live cataloguing discrepancy that will confuse buyers: Wikipedia and some trade records date the book to January 1976, which appears to reflect the on-sale date rather than the copyright/publication year. The London edition from Hodder & Stoughton (ISBN 0-340-22313-3) followed in 1976 and does not precede. This was Samson's only novel.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club printing circulates; no title-specific tell is documented in the sources consulted, so the standard tests apply — blind stamp or impressed shape in the rear board, unpriced jacket, absence of the number line, and lighter bulk. Separately, the 1977 Avon paperback, the Millipede Press (2007) and Valancourt (2018/2020) revivals are "first thus" reprints, not firsts; the Suntup Editions numbered and lettered issues (2020–21) are modern fine-press printings and are not first editions of the text despite their elaborate presentation.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Auctioneer* by Joan Samson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-auctioneer
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.