# Is "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" by Annette Gordon-Reed a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W. W. Norton & Company, 2008) is identified by: Norton & Company (New York) first printing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-393-06477-3. US W.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- W. W. Norton & Company (New York) first printing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-393-06477-3
- Bound in cloth-backed boards
- The copyright page carries a full descending number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 (or a run ending in 1) with no stated later printing
- The first-state dust jacket should be present with its printed price on the flap intact; a price-clipped flap does not by itself unmake a first
- Publisher imprint reads W. W. Norton & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Annette Gordon-Reed |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
| Year | 2008 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | W. W. Norton & Company (New York) first printing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-393-06477-3 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
W. W. Norton & Company (New York) first printing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-393-06477-3. Bound in cloth-backed boards. The copyright page carries a full descending number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 (or a run ending in 1) with no stated later printing. The first-state dust jacket should be present with its printed price on the flap intact; a price-clipped flap does not by itself unmake a first.

## Is this the true first?
US W. W. Norton (New York) is the true first, 2008. Won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 2008 National Book Award for Nonfiction. The paperback reissue (ISBN 978-0-393-33776-1) is a later, separate edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Confirm the number line descends to 1 (or 0) on the copyright page for a first printing. The later Norton trade paperback under ISBN 978-0-393-33776-1 is a reprint, not the 2008 hardcover first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family* by Annette Gordon-Reed a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-hemingses-of-monticello-an-american-family
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.