# Is "The Great Plains" by Walter Prescott Webb a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Great Plains by Walter Prescott Webb (Ginn and Company, 1931) is identified by: First printing is identified by the first-issue typographical error "poo" for "poor" in the Chapter II summary on page 10 — the point cited by the standard Americana bibliographies, and independently corroborated by an ABAA dealer who describes later printings within the first edition as being "with type correction." Ginn also printed a house code that separates the printings; first printings are recorded with the code 631.7, but sources disagree on its placement (one dealer cites the copyright page, another the title leaf), so read the page-10 typo first and treat the code as a cross-check only. US Ginn and Company, Boston, 1931 is the true first, issued by a textbook house rather than a trade publisher — the census claim is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing is identified by the first-issue typographical error "poo" for "poor" in the Chapter II summary on page 10 — the point cited by the standard Americana bibliographies, and independently corroborated by an ABAA dealer who describes later printings within the first edition as being "with type correction." Ginn also printed a house code that separates the printings; first printings are recorded with the code 631.7, but sources disagree on its placement (one dealer cites the copyright page, another the title leaf), so read the page-10 typo first and treat the code as a cross-check only
- Collation: octavo (approx
- 8 9/16 in.), 525 pp., with maps, drawings and illustrations; bound in black cloth over boards, titles and a buffalo-herd vignette printed in silver
- Scarce in the original jacket — facsimile jackets are supplied by at least one specialist and are sold as facsimiles, so confirm any jacket is original rather than a supplied reproduction
- Publisher imprint reads Ginn and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Walter Prescott Webb |
| Publisher | Ginn and Company |
| Year | 1931 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing is identified by the first-issue typographical error "poo" for "poor" in the Chapter II summary on page 10 — the point cited… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing is identified by the first-issue typographical error "poo" for "poor" in the Chapter II summary on page 10 — the point cited by the standard Americana bibliographies, and independently corroborated by an ABAA dealer who describes later printings within the first edition as being "with type correction." Ginn also printed a house code that separates the printings; first printings are recorded with the code 631.7, but sources disagree on its placement (one dealer cites the copyright page, another the title leaf), so read the page-10 typo first and treat the code as a cross-check only. Collation: octavo (approx. 8 9/16 in.), 525 pp., with maps, drawings and illustrations; bound in black cloth over boards, titles and a buffalo-herd vignette printed in silver. Scarce in the original jacket — facsimile jackets are supplied by at least one specialist and are sold as facsimiles, so confirm any jacket is original rather than a supplied reproduction.

## Is this the true first?
US Ginn and Company, Boston, 1931 is the true first, issued by a textbook house rather than a trade publisher — the census claim is correct. No UK edition or competing foreign first is recorded. Later Ginn (1959) and Blaisdell Publishing (Waltham, 1959) issues are the textbook house's own reprints, and the University of Nebraska Press edition (Lincoln, 1981) is a "first thus" with new front matter.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Grosset & Dunlap (New York) issued a reprint carrying the same 1931 date and the same 525-page setting under the G&D imprint — the most common trap; identify by the spine and title-page imprint, never by the date alone. Grosset also issued the text in its Universal Library paperback line. Grosset & Dunlap 1957 and 1971, Ginn 1959 and Blaisdell 1959 are all later.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Great Plains* by Walter Prescott Webb a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-great-plains
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.