# Is "The City and the Pillar" by Gore Vidal a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal (E. P. Dutton, 1948) is identified by: First edition published by E. US precedes UK: E.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition published by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1948 (Vidal's third novel, issued January 1948)
- First printings state 'First Edition' on the copyright page and are bound in black cloth with gilt spine lettering, octavo, 314 pp
- The priced first-issue dust jacket should be present (identification only)
- Confirmation rests on the explicit 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page combined with the 1948 Dutton imprint; multiple ABAA dealers describe first copies as 'Stated First Edition.'
- Publisher imprint reads E. P. Dutton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gore Vidal |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
| Year | 1948 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition published by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1948 (Vidal's third novel, issued January 1948) |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition published by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1948 (Vidal's third novel, issued January 1948). First printings state 'First Edition' on the copyright page and are bound in black cloth with gilt spine lettering, octavo, 314 pp. The priced first-issue dust jacket should be present (identification only). Confirmation rests on the explicit 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page combined with the 1948 Dutton imprint; multiple ABAA dealers describe first copies as 'Stated First Edition.'

## Is this the true first?
US precedes UK: E. P. Dutton (New York), 1948 is the true first; John Lehmann (London) published the first UK edition in 1949. Both are collected, but the Dutton 1948 is the true first. Note the 1965 Dutton 'The City and the Pillar Revised' is a substantially rewritten text with an altered ending — a 'first thus,' never the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1965 revised edition and subsequent reprints reset the text and change the ending and are 'first thus' at best; a stated 'First Edition' on the copyright page is required for the genuine 1948 Dutton first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The City and the Pillar* by Gore Vidal a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-city-and-the-pillar
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.