# Is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston, 1990) is identified by: First trade edition (Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston, 1990): ISBN 0-395-51598-X; 8vo, [14], 273, [1] pp; first printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page — any line missing the 1 is a later printing. CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First trade edition (Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston, 1990): ISBN 0-395-51598-X; 8vo, [14], 273, [1] pp; first printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page — any line missing the 1 is a later printing
- The jacket has two states and the first-issue jacket is the point: the spine title is printed slightly off-centre / off-register, '0390' appears at the foot of the front jacket flap, and there is no jacket-design credit on the flap; the second-issue jacket has the spine printing correctly centred
- Price present at the flap on the trade issue
- Franklin Library issue (Franklin Center, 1990): full brown leather, gilt-stamped soldier device to spine and covers, hubbed spine, all edges gilt, satin ribbon marker, colour frontispiece; signed by O'Brien, and — the substantive point — it contains an introduction by O'Brien that is not present in the trade edition
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tim O'Brien |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston |
| Year | 1990 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First trade edition (Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston, 1990): ISBN 0-395-51598-X; 8vo, [14], 273, [1] pp; first printing carries… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First trade edition (Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, Boston, 1990): ISBN 0-395-51598-X; 8vo, [14], 273, [1] pp; first printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page — any line missing the 1 is a later printing. The jacket has two states and the first-issue jacket is the point: the spine title is printed slightly off-centre / off-register, '0390' appears at the foot of the front jacket flap, and there is no jacket-design credit on the flap; the second-issue jacket has the spine printing correctly centred. Price present at the flap on the trade issue. Franklin Library issue (Franklin Center, 1990): full brown leather, gilt-stamped soldier device to spine and covers, hubbed spine, all edges gilt, satin ribbon marker, colour frontispiece; signed by O'Brien, and — the substantive point — it contains an introduction by O'Brien that is not present in the trade edition.

## Is this the true first?
CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The census names Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence as the first without qualification, but two independent dealers state the Franklin Library signed edition was issued before the trade edition — Rulon-Miller Books catalogues the Houghton Mifflin explicitly as 'first trade edition. A signed edition was previously issued by the Franklin Library,' and dealer consensus on the Franklin Library issue describes it as preceding all other editions. Charles Agvent (ABAA) independently confirms the Franklin Library issue carries an author's introduction absent from the trade edition, which corroborates that it is a distinct issue rather than a reprint. Treat the Franklin Library (Franklin Center, 1990) as the probable true first and the Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence (Boston, 1990) as the first trade edition; both are collected, and the trade first is the copy the market generally means. The census is correct on UK precedence: Collins (London, 1990, ISBN 0-00-223603-6) followed the American edition and is the first UK edition, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No trade book-club variant is documented for this title in the sources consulted. The Franklin Library leatherbound is a separate signed issue, not a book-club reprint, and should not be described as one. Reprint tell for the trade edition: a number line no longer ending in 1. Jacket tell: a centred spine title marks the second-issue jacket, which is frequently married to first-printing sheets.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Things They Carried* by Tim O'Brien a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-things-they-carried
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.