# Is "The Crack-Up" by F. Scott Fitzgerald a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald (New Directions, New York, 1945) is identified by: The first edition, first issue is identified by the two-colour title page: lines 3-12 and the publisher's device are printed in red-brown (described by some dealers as brick red), with the remainder in black. US-only precedence: New Directions, New York, 1945, edited by Edmund Wilson, is the true first and the sole edition collected as such — the census claim is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition, first issue is identified by the two-colour title page: lines 3-12 and the publisher's device are printed in red-brown (described by some dealers as brick red), with the remainder in black
- The later issue of the same first edition has the title page printed in black only, and is the trap most often offered as a plain 'first edition' — the colour of the title page, not the copyright page, does the work here
- Matthew J. Bruccoli's Fitzgerald bibliography is the standard authority cited by dealers for this point
- The first issue is reported bound in half buckram with a paper label over patterned boards; later-issue copies are commonly found in plain cloth
- Jacket should be present and priced (price at the flap)
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| Publisher | New Directions, New York |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition, first issue is identified by the two-colour title page: lines 3-12 and the publisher's device are printed in red-brown… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first edition, first issue is identified by the two-colour title page: lines 3-12 and the publisher's device are printed in red-brown (described by some dealers as brick red), with the remainder in black. The later issue of the same first edition has the title page printed in black only, and is the trap most often offered as a plain 'first edition' — the colour of the title page, not the copyright page, does the work here. Matthew J. Bruccoli's Fitzgerald bibliography is the standard authority cited by dealers for this point. The first issue is reported bound in half buckram with a paper label over patterned boards; later-issue copies are commonly found in plain cloth. Jacket should be present and priced (price at the flap).

## Is this the true first?
US-only precedence: New Directions, New York, 1945, edited by Edmund Wilson, is the true first and the sole edition collected as such — the census claim is correct. No British edition preceded or competed with it; UK hardcover publication followed more than a decade later (The Bodley Head, reported 1958), and that later British issue is a reprint, not a co-first. The 'first thus' traps are the New Directions paperbook (NDP54) and modern annotated reissues.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for this title in the sources consulted. The material reprint tell is the black-only title page marking the later issue of the first edition; New Directions kept the book in print, so later printings and the paperbook are common and are not firsts.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Crack-Up* by F. Scott Fitzgerald a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-crack-up
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.