# Is "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Red Pony by John Steinbeck (Covici-Friede, New York, 1937) is identified by: Covici-Friede's 1937 issue was published only in a signed limitation — there was no 1937 trade printing — so the limited edition IS the first separate edition (Goldstone & Payne A9a). Census claim confirmed: Covici-Friede, New York, 1937 is the true first separate edition, in the signed limitation of 699.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Covici-Friede's 1937 issue was published only in a signed limitation — there was no 1937 trade printing — so the limited edition IS the first separate edition (Goldstone & Payne A9a)
- The limitation leaf states 699 copies, each signed by Steinbeck, printed on La Garde handmade paper by the Pynson Printers of New York under the supervision of Elmer Adler; dealers record the copy number penned on the slipcase spine rather than printed on the limitation leaf, which reconciles listings that describe the book itself as 'unnumbered' with those quoting a number out of 699
- Binding is publisher's pictorial beige/tan limp cloth with intersectional gray rules and a red pony vignette at the center of the front board, spine lettered in red
- 81pp; fore-edge and bottom edge uncut
- It was issued in a plain glassine wrapper — not a printed dust jacket — and a publisher's tan cardboard slipcase
- A scarce out-of-series lettered issue on watermarked Marais handmade paper (as against La Garde for the numbered copies) is also recorded and was intended for private distribution; the count of 52 is commonly cited but is inferred from surviving examples rather than stated, so treat it as unconfirmed
- Publisher imprint reads Covici-Friede, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Steinbeck |
| Publisher | Covici-Friede, New York |
| Year | 1937 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Covici-Friede's 1937 issue was published only in a signed limitation — there was no 1937 trade printing — so the limited edition IS the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Covici-Friede's 1937 issue was published only in a signed limitation — there was no 1937 trade printing — so the limited edition IS the first separate edition (Goldstone & Payne A9a). The limitation leaf states 699 copies, each signed by Steinbeck, printed on La Garde handmade paper by the Pynson Printers of New York under the supervision of Elmer Adler; dealers record the copy number penned on the slipcase spine rather than printed on the limitation leaf, which reconciles listings that describe the book itself as 'unnumbered' with those quoting a number out of 699. Binding is publisher's pictorial beige/tan limp cloth with intersectional gray rules and a red pony vignette at the center of the front board, spine lettered in red; 81pp; fore-edge and bottom edge uncut. It was issued in a plain glassine wrapper — not a printed dust jacket — and a publisher's tan cardboard slipcase. A scarce out-of-series lettered issue on watermarked Marais handmade paper (as against La Garde for the numbered copies) is also recorded and was intended for private distribution; the count of 52 is commonly cited but is inferred from surviving examples rather than stated, so treat it as unconfirmed. Covici-Friede carried no edition statement on first editions and noted subsequent printings, though that convention is moot given the single limited issue.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed: Covici-Friede, New York, 1937 is the true first separate edition, in the signed limitation of 699. It is US-only — there is no UK edition of the 1937 issue and no original-language question, so no precedence contest arises. The familiar Viking illustrated Red Pony (New York, 1945), with eleven Wesley Dennis watercolors and a fourth story, is a classic 'first thus' trap, not a first: 'The Leader of the People' had already made its first book appearance in The Long Valley (Viking, September 1938). The three stories in the Covici-Friede volume had appeared earlier in periodicals (North American Review, Harper's) between 1933 and 1937, so the 1937 book is first in book form only.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the 1937 limitation exists. Any copy that is illustrated, contains four stories, or arrives in a printed pictorial dust jacket rather than plain glassine is a later Viking edition or reprint, not the Covici-Friede first. The 1945 Viking illustrated edition — textured beige cloth with a pasted-on watercolor of a foal to the upper board, in its own slipcase — was widely reprinted and is the copy most often mistaken for a first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Red Pony* by John Steinbeck a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-red-pony
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.