# Is "The Big Honey Hunt" by Stan & Jan Berenstain a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Big Honey Hunt by Stan & Jan Berenstain (Beginner Books / Random House, 1962) is identified by: Beginner Books number B-28, and the first printing is identified almost entirely by the jacket. US-only true first: Beginner Books, a division of Random House, New York, 1962 — the first Berenstain Bears title.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Beginner Books number B-28, and the first printing is identified almost entirely by the jacket
- The book number 'B-28' must be printed on the spine
- The first-state jacket shows the '150 Word Vocabulary' box hanging from the Cat in the Hat Beginner Books logo on the front panel, carries a priced jacket with the price code present at the front flap (unclipped), and lists 28 Beginner Books titles on the rear panel with The Big Honey Hunt last — Zielinski's jacket-back configuration 'J' for 1962
- A rear panel that adds The Bike Lesson (the Berenstains' second title) is a later printing, not a first
- Corroborated by an ABAA-marketplace dealer description, the rarefirsteditionbooks first-edition entry, the Berenstain Bears collectors' bibliography, and Zielinski's Beginner Books identification guide as reproduced at the printed pricetedition.net
- Publisher imprint reads Beginner Books / Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stan & Jan Berenstain |
| Publisher | Beginner Books / Random House |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Beginner Books number B-28, and the first printing is identified almost entirely by the jacket |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Beginner Books number B-28, and the first printing is identified almost entirely by the jacket. The book number 'B-28' must be printed on the spine. The first-state jacket shows the '150 Word Vocabulary' box hanging from the Cat in the Hat Beginner Books logo on the front panel, carries a priced jacket with the price code present at the front flap (unclipped), and lists 28 Beginner Books titles on the rear panel with The Big Honey Hunt last — Zielinski's jacket-back configuration 'J' for 1962. A rear panel that adds The Bike Lesson (the Berenstains' second title) is a later printing, not a first. Corroborated by an ABAA-marketplace dealer description, the rarefirsteditionbooks first-edition entry, the Berenstain Bears collectors' bibliography, and Zielinski's Beginner Books identification guide as reproduced at the printed pricetedition.net.

## Is this the true first?
US-only true first: Beginner Books, a division of Random House, New York, 1962 — the first Berenstain Bears title. No earlier UK or foreign-language edition is documented; the census claim stands as given. Note the pre-1960 'Distributed by Random House' imprint point does NOT apply here: by 1962 Random House had acquired Beginner Books and first printings correctly read as a division of Random House.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club editions are documented and common: they are slightly smaller in format, OMIT the B-28 book number from the spine, and use thinner boards, cheaper cover stock and lower-grade paper. The 50th Anniversary Edition (2012, ISBN 9780394800288) is a modern reprint of the text, not a first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Big Honey Hunt* by Stan & Jan Berenstain a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-big-honey-hunt
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.