# Is "The Black Stallion" by Walter Farley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Black Stallion by Walter Farley (Random House, 1941) is identified by: The copyright page of the first printing carries a printing statement — ABAA and independent dealers catalogue true first copies as "Stated First Printing" on the copyright page — and every later printing states its own number ("Twenty-Third Printing," "Thirtieth Printing," "Thirty-Eighth Printing" and onward), so any numbered printing statement rules out the first. US edition is the true first: Random House, New York, 1941 — the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The copyright page of the first printing carries a printing statement — ABAA and independent dealers catalogue true first copies as "Stated First Printing" on the copyright page — and every later printing states its own number ("Twenty-Third Printing," "Thirtieth Printing," "Thirty-Eighth Printing" and onward), so any numbered printing statement rules out the first
- The binding is original grey cloth with a horse stamped in black on the front board, the spine stamped/lettered in black with red rules, and a red top stain; text is illustrated with in-text and full-page black-and-white drawings by Keith Ward (ten plates cited by one dealer), collating approximately [7], viii-ix, [3], 3-275, [3] pages
- The jacket is black and red pictorial and should be unclipped with the price present at the front flap
- Published 15 October 1941; jacketed first printings are uncommon
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Walter Farley |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | The copyright page of the first printing carries a printing statement — ABAA and independent dealers catalogue true first copies as "Stated… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The copyright page of the first printing carries a printing statement — ABAA and independent dealers catalogue true first copies as "Stated First Printing" on the copyright page — and every later printing states its own number ("Twenty-Third Printing," "Thirtieth Printing," "Thirty-Eighth Printing" and onward), so any numbered printing statement rules out the first. The binding is original grey cloth with a horse stamped in black on the front board, the spine stamped/lettered in black with red rules, and a red top stain; text is illustrated with in-text and full-page black-and-white drawings by Keith Ward (ten plates cited by one dealer), collating approximately [7], viii-ix, [3], 3-275, [3] pages. The jacket is black and red pictorial and should be unclipped with the price present at the front flap. Published 15 October 1941; jacketed first printings are uncommon.

## Is this the true first?
US edition is the true first: Random House, New York, 1941 — the census claim is confirmed. No prior magazine serialization and no simultaneous or preceding UK edition are documented; British issues are later and are not collected as co-firsts. This is the first title of the Black Stallion series, published while Farley was a student at Columbia.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Random House printings are self-identifying because they state the printing number on the copyright page. Book-club and reprint issues carry a different imprint rather than Random House's printing statement — a Junior Deluxe Editions club issue reproducing the 1941 copyright and the Keith Ward artwork is recorded, and it is a reprint, not the first. One dealer notes a later-issue jacket that carries the original flap price but lists series titles on the rear panel that do not match jackets on confirmed first printings, so the rear-panel title list is a useful secondary check.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Black Stallion* by Walter Farley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-black-stallion
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.