# Is "The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor" by Flannery O'Connor a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor by Flannery O'Connor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979) is identified by: First edition so indicated on the copyright page (printing statement, no number line dropping to a later state); edited and introduced by Sally Fitzgerald. US first edition; first appearance in print of the collected letters (first thus).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition so indicated on the copyright page (printing statement, no number line dropping to a later state); edited and introduced by Sally Fitzgerald
- Catalogued as Farmer A8.I.a.1 in the O'Connor bibliography
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Flannery O'Connor |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Year | 1979 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition so indicated on the copyright page (printing statement, no number line dropping to a later state); edited and introduced by… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition so indicated on the copyright page (printing statement, no number line dropping to a later state); edited and introduced by Sally Fitzgerald. Catalogued as Farmer A8.I.a.1 in the O'Connor bibliography.

## Is this the true first?
US first edition; first appearance in print of the collected letters (first thus).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings are indicated on the copyright page rather than by a separate book-club issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor* by Flannery O'Connor a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-habit-of-being-letters-of-flannery-oconnor
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.