# Is "The Theory of the Leisure Class" by Thorstein Veblen a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen (The Macmillan Company, 1899) is identified by: First edition, first printing, collates viii, 400, [2 pp.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, collates viii, 400, [2 pp. of publisher's advertisements], [2 pp. blank], and carries no stated printing or edition wording on the title or copyright page, as was standard Macmillan practice at the time
- Bound in dark green cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, front board ruled in blind, with top edge gilt and other edges uncut
- Octavo, roughly 7½ x 5¼ inches, subtitled "An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions."
- Publisher imprint reads The Macmillan Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thorstein Veblen |
| Publisher | The Macmillan Company |
| Year | 1899 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, collates viii, 400, [2 pp. of publisher's advertisements], [2 pp. blank], and carries no stated printing or… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, collates viii, 400, [2 pp. of publisher's advertisements], [2 pp. blank], and carries no stated printing or edition wording on the title or copyright page, as was standard Macmillan practice at the time. Bound in dark green cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, front board ruled in blind, with top edge gilt and other edges uncut. Octavo, roughly 7½ x 5¼ inches, subtitled "An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions."

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Macmillan cloth reissues and 20th-century reprint-house and paperback editions (Mentor, Modern Library, etc.) reset the type, add introductions, and drop both the ad leaf and the original dark green first-edition cloth.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Theory of the Leisure Class* by Thorstein Veblen a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-theory-of-the-leisure-class
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.