# Is "The Reivers" by William Faulkner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Reivers by William Faulkner (Random House, 1962) is identified by: Random House trade first: the copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (Random House's first-printing convention for this period, accompanied by the house code letter), not 'First Edition.' Red cloth lettered in gilt, red top-stain, octavo of about 305 pages, in a first-issue jacket carrying the printed price and a the printed price date code on the front flap. US Random House 1962.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Random House trade first: the copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (Random House's first-printing convention for this period, accompanied by the house code letter), not 'First Edition.' Red cloth lettered in gilt, red top-stain, octavo of about 305 pages, in a first-issue jacket carrying the printed price and a the printed price date code on the front flap
- A signed, numbered limited edition of 500 copies, specially bound, precedes the trade printing
- Faulkner's last novel; awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Faulkner |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Random House trade first: the copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (Random House's first-printing convention for this period, accompanied… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Random House trade first: the copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (Random House's first-printing convention for this period, accompanied by the house code letter), not 'First Edition.' Red cloth lettered in gilt, red top-stain, octavo of about 305 pages, in a first-issue jacket carrying the printed price and a the printed price date code on the front flap. A signed, numbered limited edition of 500 copies, specially bound, precedes the trade printing. Faulkner's last novel; awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963.

## Is this the true first?
US Random House 1962. The signed/numbered limited edition (500 copies, signed on the limitation leaf) is the true first issue and precedes the trade first. For the trade first, the point is the 'FIRST PRINTING' statement on the copyright page with the Random House house code, not a 'First Edition' statement.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later trade printings drop the 'FIRST PRINTING' line. Book-club copies are marked accordingly and typically show a blind-stamp and an unpriced jacket.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Reivers* by William Faulkner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-reivers
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.