# Is "The Human Stain" by Philip Roth a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Human Stain by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) is identified by: First printing has a complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. The US Houghton Mifflin edition is the true first; the UK Jonathan Cape edition followed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has a complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page
- Bound in black quarter cloth over charcoal-gray boards with the spine titling stamped in gilt
- The trade dust jacket, designed by Michaela Sullivan, has bright glossy black front, spine, and rear panels; the printed retail price should be present on the front flap, and the rear panel carries review quotations for the earlier American Trilogy novels American Pastoral and I Married a Communist
- Third volume of Roth's American Trilogy
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Philip Roth |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 2000 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has a complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing has a complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. Bound in black quarter cloth over charcoal-gray boards with the spine titling stamped in gilt. The trade dust jacket, designed by Michaela Sullivan, has bright glossy black front, spine, and rear panels; the printed retail price should be present on the front flap, and the rear panel carries review quotations for the earlier American Trilogy novels American Pastoral and I Married a Communist. Third volume of Roth's American Trilogy.

## Is this the true first?
The US Houghton Mifflin edition is the true first; the UK Jonathan Cape edition followed. The UK printing uses a non-sequential number line (2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is the priority issue; later trade printings and Vintage International paperbacks reprint the text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Human Stain* by Philip Roth a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-human-stain
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.