Is My The Day of the Locust a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: Random House, New York, published 16 May 1939, 238 pp., octavo
• The first printing is identified by the words 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page — this is the controlling point and is present on the trade first
• Bound in red cloth boards with a printed title label to the spine, with a dark topstain
• Manufactured by H. Wolff, New York
• The first-issue dust jacket has the price present at the front flap
• The novel sold only about 1,480 copies, and West died the following year, so first printings in original jacket are scarce; jackets are commonly found with spine fading, staining and old tape repairs to the verso

How Random House, New York marked a first edition

• Stated-edition era (c.1936–1975): trade first printings are plainly marked with the words 'First Edition' (or, on some earlier titles, 'First Printing') on the copyright page, with NO number line yet in use; a copyright…
• Divisional practice — share the STATEMENT, not the '2'-line: sister divisions state 'First Edition' as their firsts (Alfred A. Knopf consistently since 1933–34; Pantheon since 1964), so the words work across the family.…

Full Random House, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

CENSUS CLAIM CONFIRMED. US Random House (New York, 1939) is the true first. The first English edition is Grey Walls Press, London, 1951 — 207 pp. plus blank, publisher's dark blue cloth lettered in gilt at the spine, issued in dust jacket — published eleven years after the American first and after West's death. Both editions are collected and both should be named. The census's framing of this title as completing the West canon alongside Miss Lonelyhearts is a collecting observation, not a bibliographic point.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

DOCUMENTED TRAP. Book-club copies of The Day of the Locust are found in an illustrated book-club dust jacket with NO price present at the flap. Because club copies can be jacketed over, or confused with, trade sheets, the jacket alone is not decisive in either direction: a first-printing book is frequently offered in a club jacket, and dealers list such copies openly. Verify the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page for the book, and separately verify that the price is present at the flap for the jacket — an unpriced illustrated jacket indicates the club jacket regardless of the book it wraps.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Day of the Locust a first edition?

A first edition of The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West (Random House, New York) is identified by: True first: Random House, New York, published 16 May 1939, 238 pp., octavo.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. CENSUS CLAIM CONFIRMED.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

DOCUMENTED TRAP. Book-club copies of The Day of the Locust are found in an illustrated book-club dust jacket with NO price present at the flap. Because club copies can be jacketed over, or confused with, trade sheets, the jacket alone is not decisive in either direction: a first-printing book is frequently offered in a club jacket, and dealers list such copies openly. Verify the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page for the book, and separately verify that the price is present at the

I have a first edition of The Day of the Locust — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.