Is My The Time It Never Rained a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page
• Doubleday dropped the statement on later printings, so an unstated Doubleday copy is a reprint
• Collates viii + 373 pages
• ISBN 0-385-05075-5
• LCCN 73-79680
• Issued in publisher's rust-coloured cloth lettered in black on the spine, in a pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap

How Doubleday & Company marked a first edition

• Mid-1958–early 1959: numerical gutter code (1–52) on the last page of text indicating the WEEK of printing. Early 1959–1987: added a LETTER code before the week code indicating the YEAR.

Full Doubleday & Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US-only true first: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1973. No contemporaneous UK edition traced in the sources consulted. The census claim of "a small genre-imprint printing" is REFUTED: this was not issued under Doubleday's Double D Western imprint -- the Library of Congress record carries no series statement and no dealer description consulted cites that imprint. It was published as a mainstream Doubleday novel. "First thus" traps: the Texas Christian University Press edition of 1984 (the reissue through which the novel is now best known), and the Forge/Tor reprints of 1999 and 2008 -- none is the first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Doubleday book-club printings of the period omit the "First Edition" statement and are typically smaller, on thinner paper in cheaper bindings, with a blind stamp or dot at the lower right of the rear board and a jacket without a price at the flap; Doubleday's own clubs (Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction Book Club) additionally carry a five-digit code, frequently as black numbers in a white block. Critically, the gutter code appears on club printings as well as trade printings and therefore does not distinguish them.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Time It Never Rained a first edition?

A first edition of The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton (Doubleday & Company) is identified by: The first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page; Doubleday dropped the statement on later printings, so an unstated Doubleday copy is a reprint.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US-only true first: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1973.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Doubleday book-club printings of the period omit the "First Edition" statement and are typically smaller, on thinner paper in cheaper bindings, with a blind stamp or dot at the lower right of the rear board and a jacket without a price at the flap; Doubleday's own clubs (Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction Book Club) additionally carry a five-digit code, frequently as black numbers in a white block. Critically, the gutter code appears on club printings as well as trade printings and t

I have a first edition of The Time It Never Rained — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.