# Is "The Spectator Bird" by Wallace Stegner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (Doubleday & Company, 1976) is identified by: For this title the Doubleday trade first does NOT state 'First Edition' on the copyright page. The true first edition is the Franklin Library leather-bound issue (Franklin Center, 1976), produced for its First Edition Society and preceding the Doubleday trade edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- For this title the Doubleday trade first does NOT state 'First Edition' on the copyright page
- The first trade printing is identified by the Doubleday gutter code (reported as R10) printed vertically at the foot of the last text page, with the price present on the dust jacket front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wallace Stegner |
| Publisher | Doubleday & Company |
| Year | 1976 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | For this title the Doubleday trade first does NOT state 'First Edition' on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
For this title the Doubleday trade first does NOT state 'First Edition' on the copyright page. The first trade printing is identified by the Doubleday gutter code (reported as R10) printed vertically at the foot of the last text page, with the price present on the dust jacket front flap.

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the Franklin Library leather-bound issue (Franklin Center, 1976), produced for its First Edition Society and preceding the Doubleday trade edition. The Doubleday trade printing is the first widely available trade first. The novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1977.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Doubleday book-club reprints lack the trade gutter code and an original printed jacket price and may carry a blind-stamped dot on the rear board. The first trade printing is identified by the gutter code at the foot of the final page, not by a stated 'First Edition' line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Spectator Bird* by Wallace Stegner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-spectator-bird
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.