# Is "The Big Money" by John Dos Passos a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Big Money by John Dos Passos (Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1936) is identified by: Third and final U.S.A. True US first; precedes the UK Constable edition of 1936.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Third and final U.S.A. volume, published August 1936
- First printing has 'First edition' stated on the copyright page with no other printings noted; bound in cloth lettered in silver
- First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Dos Passos |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York |
| Year | 1936 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Third and final U.S.A. volume, published August 1936 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Third and final U.S.A. volume, published August 1936. First printing has 'First edition' stated on the copyright page with no other printings noted; bound in cloth lettered in silver. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
True US first; precedes the UK Constable edition of 1936. The trilogy was first gathered into one volume as 'U.S.A.' by the Modern Library in 1937 (Harcourt, Brace issued its own one-volume 'U.S.A.' in 1938); the illustrated three-volume boxed set with Reginald Marsh illustrations was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1946 in a signed limitation of 365 copies. Each of those is its own separate first, not a state of the 1936 volume.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club issue for the first. Later printings note additional printings on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Big Money* by John Dos Passos a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-big-money
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.