# Is "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926) is identified by: First printing (Charles Scribner's Sons, October 1926). US Scribner's (October 1926) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing (Charles Scribner's Sons, October 1926)
- The copyright page carries the Scribner's Press seal and the 'Published October 1926' line — NO letter 'A' (Scribner's did not use the 'A' device until 1930)
- Primary point: p.181 line 26 reads 'stoppped' (three p's), corrected to 'stopped' in the second printing
- Supporting first-printing points: 'down-staris' for 'downstairs' at p.169 line 34, and 'BOOK THREE' spelled out (rather than 'BOOK III') at p.[235]. The Ecclesiastes epigraph on p.[viii] carries a second 'vanity' passage present in the first two printings that was dropped from the third printing onward
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ernest Hemingway |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1926 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing (Charles Scribner's Sons, October 1926) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing (Charles Scribner's Sons, October 1926). The copyright page carries the Scribner's Press seal and the 'Published October 1926' line — NO letter 'A' (Scribner's did not use the 'A' device until 1930). Primary point: p.181 line 26 reads 'stoppped' (three p's), corrected to 'stopped' in the second printing. Supporting first-printing points: 'down-staris' for 'downstairs' at p.169 line 34, and 'BOOK THREE' spelled out (rather than 'BOOK III') at p.[235]. The Ecclesiastes epigraph on p.[viii] carries a second 'vanity' passage present in the first two printings that was dropped from the third printing onward.

## Is this the true first?
US Scribner's (October 1926) is the true first. The first-issue dust jacket is itself a point: on the FRONT panel it miscites Hemingway's earlier book as 'In Our Times' — the correct title is 'In Our Time' — and this is the jacket tell the concern flags. The UK edition was retitled 'Fiesta' (Jonathan Cape, 1927), a later 'first thus.' There was no signed or limited issue of the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The second printing corrects 'stoppped' to 'stopped'; that printing and all later Scribner's printings, plus Grosset & Dunlap and book-club reprints, lack the misprint. Note that these 1926–1929 printings also carry no letter 'A,' so absence of an 'A' does not by itself prove a first — confirm by the 'stoppped' typo at p.181 line 26 and the single 'Published October 1926' copyright line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Sun Also Rises* by Ernest Hemingway a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-sun-also-rises
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.