# Is "The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America" by Louis Menand a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001) is identified by: The copyright page states 'First edition, 2001' with a complete number line descending to 1. US Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York) is the true first (ISBN 0-374-19963-9), published May 2001; it precedes the UK edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The copyright page states 'First edition, 2001' with a complete number line descending to 1
- The book is bound in cloth-backed boards (red and black), octavo, roughly xii+546 pages, in a first-state dust jacket that carries the printed price and is not clipped
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Louis Menand |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Year | 2001 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The copyright page states 'First edition, 2001' with a complete number line descending to 1 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The copyright page states 'First edition, 2001' with a complete number line descending to 1. The book is bound in cloth-backed boards (red and black), octavo, roughly xii+546 pages, in a first-state dust jacket that carries the printed price and is not clipped.

## Is this the true first?
US Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York) is the true first (ISBN 0-374-19963-9), published May 2001; it precedes the UK edition. Won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2002.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No significant book-club concern; identify the first by the FSG 'First edition, 2001' statement and the intact number line ending in 1.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America* by Louis Menand a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-metaphysical-club-a-story-of-ideas-in-america
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.