# Is "The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris" by Shirley Jackson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris by Shirley Jackson (Farrar, Straus and Company, New York, 1949) is identified by: First printings carry the publisher's stylised "fs" colophon on the copyright page — its absence rules a copy out. The US Farrar, Straus and Company edition of 1949 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printings carry the publisher's stylised "fs" colophon on the copyright page — its absence rules a copy out
- The book collates [viii], 306 pp., octavo, bound in grey cloth with the spine lettered in red (a minority of dealers describe the cloth as beige rather than grey; the sources consulted otherwise agree)
- The first-issue dust jacket has the price present at the flap and gives the publisher's address as 53 East 34th Street, New York, on the rear panel; a second-issue jacket shows a Fifth Avenue address and a raised price, and is the single most common way a later copy is passed off
- Beware the title itself: the 1949 first edition is titled The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris, and any copy titled The Lottery and Other Stories is a later retitled reprint, not the first
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Company, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Shirley Jackson |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Company, New York |
| Year | 1949 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printings carry the publisher's stylised "fs" colophon on the copyright page — its absence rules a copy out |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printings carry the publisher's stylised "fs" colophon on the copyright page — its absence rules a copy out. The book collates [viii], 306 pp., octavo, bound in grey cloth with the spine lettered in red (a minority of dealers describe the cloth as beige rather than grey; the sources consulted otherwise agree). The first-issue dust jacket has the price present at the flap and gives the publisher's address as 53 East 34th Street, New York, on the rear panel; a second-issue jacket shows a Fifth Avenue address and a raised price, and is the single most common way a later copy is passed off. Beware the title itself: the 1949 first edition is titled The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris, and any copy titled The Lottery and Other Stories is a later retitled reprint, not the first.

## Is this the true first?
The US Farrar, Straus and Company edition of 1949 is the true first. The first British edition followed from Victor Gollancz, London, in 1950, retaining Jackson's original title; both are collected but Farrar, Straus holds precedence. The familiar The Lottery and Other Stories is a later re-titling and is a "first thus" trap only — never a true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tells are the absence of the "fs" colophon on the copyright page and the second-issue jacket bearing a Fifth Avenue address with a raised price in place of the 53 East 34th Street address.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris* by Shirley Jackson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-lottery-or-the-adventures-of-james-harris
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.