# Is "The Man Who Had All the Luck" by Arthur Miller a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Man Who Had All the Luck by Arthur Miller (In 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing', edited by Edwin Seaver, 1944) is identified by: First book appearance is within the anthology 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing' (L.B. The Man Who Had All the Luck was not published as a separate book at the time; the 1944 Cross-Section anthology is the true first book appearance, predating the brief Broadway run of November 1944.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First book appearance is within the anthology 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing' (L.B. Fischer, 1944), issued in cloth with dust jacket
- The play appears as a contribution among many authors in that volume
- Publisher imprint reads In 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing', edited by Edwin Seaver
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Arthur Miller |
| Publisher | In 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing', edited by Edwin Seaver |
| Year | 1944 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First book appearance is within the anthology 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First book appearance is within the anthology 'Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing' (L.B. Fischer, 1944), issued in cloth with dust jacket. The play appears as a contribution among many authors in that volume.

## Is this the true first?
The Man Who Had All the Luck was not published as a separate book at the time; the 1944 Cross-Section anthology is the true first book appearance, predating the brief Broadway run of November 1944. A collectible copy is the anthology itself, not a standalone edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition for this anthology first appearance.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Man Who Had All the Luck* by Arthur Miller a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-man-who-had-all-the-luck
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.