# Is "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper & Row, 1988) is identified by: The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page AND carries the complete number line "88 89 90 91 92 HC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" — both must be present, and the line must descend to 1. The US Harper & Row 1988 edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; this is Kingsolver's first novel and first book.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page AND carries the complete number line "88 89 90 91 92 HC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" — both must be present, and the line must descend to 1
- 232 pp., bound in rose-colored boards with light gray cloth at the spine and a deckled fore-edge; the jacket should be priced, with the price present at the front flap and unclipped
- Harper practice of the period strips the terminal digit on subsequent printings, so a line beginning at 2 or higher is a later printing even where the words "FIRST EDITION" survive
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Row
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Barbara Kingsolver |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
| Year | 1988 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page AND carries the complete number line "88 89 90 91 92 HC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page AND carries the complete number line "88 89 90 91 92 HC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" — both must be present, and the line must descend to 1. 232 pp., bound in rose-colored boards with light gray cloth at the spine and a deckled fore-edge; the jacket should be priced, with the price present at the front flap and unclipped. Harper practice of the period strips the terminal digit on subsequent printings, so a line beginning at 2 or higher is a later printing even where the words "FIRST EDITION" survive.

## Is this the true first?
The US Harper & Row 1988 edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; this is Kingsolver's first novel and first book. The first UK edition followed from Virago Press Limited, London, in 1989 (first impression, octavo, black cloth with gilt spine titles, [vi],232,[2] pp., in a priced jacket) and is separately collected as the first English appearance. A minority of dealer records date the Virago 1988; the imprint and the standard listings give 1989.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the Harper & Row first is documented in the sources consulted, so no club-specific blind stamp or flap tell can be asserted for this title. The reliable tell for a non-first remains the copyright page: absence of the "FIRST EDITION" statement or an incomplete number line. Do not treat a later Harper/HarperCollins reissue or the large-print printing as a first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Bean Trees* by Barbara Kingsolver a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-bean-trees
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.