# Is "The Family Reunion" by T.S. Eliot a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Family Reunion by T.S. Eliot (Faber & Faber, 1939) is identified by: First Faber & Faber edition, first impression, London, March 1939. The London Faber & Faber edition and the New York Harcourt, Brace edition both appeared in March 1939, so the two are effectively simultaneous; the Faber printing is generally treated as the first, with the Harcourt edition (black cloth, 131 pp.) the American issue of the same month.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- A verse play
- First Faber & Faber edition, first impression, London, March 1939
- Octavo, bound in grey cloth with the spine titled in pink, and issued in the first-issue typographic dust jacket bearing the printed net price on an unrestored copy (a later second-state jacket is recorded)
- Gallup A33
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | T.S. Eliot |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year | 1939 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | A verse play |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
A verse play. First Faber & Faber edition, first impression, London, March 1939. Octavo, bound in grey cloth with the spine titled in pink, and issued in the first-issue typographic dust jacket bearing the printed net price on an unrestored copy (a later second-state jacket is recorded). Gallup A33.

## Is this the true first?
The London Faber & Faber edition and the New York Harcourt, Brace edition both appeared in March 1939, so the two are effectively simultaneous; the Faber printing is generally treated as the first, with the Harcourt edition (black cloth, 131 pp.) the American issue of the same month.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Family Reunion* by T.S. Eliot a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-family-reunion
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.