# Is "The Magnificent Ambersons" by Booth Tarkington a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (Doubleday, Page & Company, 1918) is identified by: Reddish-brown cloth lettered in black; illustrated by Arthur William Brown. US true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Reddish-brown cloth lettered in black; illustrated by Arthur William Brown
- Title page and copyright page dated 1918 with no later-printing or code statement, and the Country Life Press colophon at the rear
- The documented first-issue text point is the transposed reading at page 419, line 14, 'I can't see you why don't,' corrected in later issues to 'I can't see why you don't.' The first-state dust jacket carries the lower original price on the spine; later jackets obscure that price and overprint a higher one
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday, Page & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Booth Tarkington |
| Publisher | Doubleday, Page & Company |
| Year | 1918 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Reddish-brown cloth lettered in black; illustrated by Arthur William Brown |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Reddish-brown cloth lettered in black; illustrated by Arthur William Brown. Title page and copyright page dated 1918 with no later-printing or code statement, and the Country Life Press colophon at the rear. The documented first-issue text point is the transposed reading at page 419, line 14, 'I can't see you why don't,' corrected in later issues to 'I can't see why you don't.' The first-state dust jacket carries the lower original price on the spine; later jackets obscure that price and overprint a higher one.

## Is this the true first?
US true first. For Doubleday, Page of this period there is no printed 'First Edition' statement, so rely on matching 1918 title and copyright dates, the absence of any later-printing code, the page-419 transposed-text point, and the first-state jacket price.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Grosset & Dunlap reprint, sometimes photoplay-tied to the 1925 film, is inexpensive and plainly a reprint. No significant book-club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Magnificent Ambersons* by Booth Tarkington a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-magnificent-ambersons
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.