# Is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (Little, Brown and Company, 1951) is identified by: First printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page (Little, Brown's house practice), with the copyright line 'Copyright, 1945, 1946, 1951, by J. US Little, Brown (Boston, 16 July 1951) is the true first; the UK first (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1951, jacket by Fritz Wegner) is a separate first that follows the US.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page (Little, Brown's house practice), with the copyright line 'Copyright, 1945, 1946, 1951, by J. D. Salinger.' The decisive discriminators are on the first-state dust jacket:
- the black-and-white photograph of Salinger on the REAR panel, credited to Lotte Jacobi, the top of his head slightly cropped
- the price present at the head of the front flap, unclipped
- As a finer refinement, on first-printing jackets the dollar sign of that flap price sits above the shoulder of the 'R' in SALINGER, shifting toward the tail of the 'R' on later-printing jackets
- There is no Book-of-the-Month-Club line on the flap
- Publisher imprint reads Little, Brown and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | J. D. Salinger |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Year | 1951 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page (Little, Brown's house practice), with the copyright line 'Copyright, 1945… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page (Little, Brown's house practice), with the copyright line 'Copyright, 1945, 1946, 1951, by J. D. Salinger.' The decisive discriminators are on the first-state dust jacket: (1) the black-and-white photograph of Salinger on the REAR panel, credited to Lotte Jacobi, the top of his head slightly cropped; (2) the price present at the head of the front flap, unclipped. As a finer refinement, on first-printing jackets the dollar sign of that flap price sits above the shoulder of the 'R' in SALINGER, shifting toward the tail of the 'R' on later-printing jackets. There is no Book-of-the-Month-Club line on the flap.

## Is this the true first?
US Little, Brown (Boston, 16 July 1951) is the true first; the UK first (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1951, jacket by Fritz Wegner) is a separate first that follows the US. With this title the JACKET carries the identification weight: the first-state jacket WITH the Lotte Jacobi photograph precedes later-printing jackets, from which the photograph was dropped (traditionally said to be at Salinger's own request). Salinger almost never signed, so signed copies are scarce and routinely forged.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Book-of-the-Month-Club edition shows a blind-stamp (small dimple) on the rear board, lacks the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, and its jacket carries no price and often no photographer credit; later Little, Brown printings kept the plates but removed the author photograph from the jacket. The photo-bearing first-state jacket is the key point — the book alone is easily confused with club copies.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Catcher in the Rye* by J. D. Salinger a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-catcher-in-the-rye
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.