# Is "The Track of the Cat" by Walter Van Tilburg Clark a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Track of the Cat by Walter Van Tilburg Clark (Random House, 1949) is identified by: The first printing is stated: Random House printed "First Printing" / "First Edition" on the copyright page in this era and removed the line on subsequent printings, and independent dealers describing first printings of this title quote the statement directly ("First Edition/First Printing - stated"). US Random House, New York, 1949 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is stated: Random House printed "First Printing" / "First Edition" on the copyright page in this era and removed the line on subsequent printings, and independent dealers describing first printings of this title quote the statement directly ("First Edition/First Printing - stated")
- Collates 404 pages, octavo
- Bound in dark teal cloth stamped in black and gilt
- The jacket is by E. McKnight Kauffer; a priced jacket (price present at the front flap) is expected on the first, and jackets are frequently found price-clipped
- Random House's later convention -- "First Edition" plus a number line whose lowest number is 2 -- belongs to the 1970s onward and does not apply to a 1949 book: for this title the copyright-page statement alone governs
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Walter Van Tilburg Clark |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1949 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is stated: Random House printed "First Printing" / "First Edition" on the copyright page in this era and removed the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing is stated: Random House printed "First Printing" / "First Edition" on the copyright page in this era and removed the line on subsequent printings, and independent dealers describing first printings of this title quote the statement directly ("First Edition/First Printing - stated"). Collates 404 pages, octavo. Bound in dark teal cloth stamped in black and gilt. The jacket is by E. McKnight Kauffer; a priced jacket (price present at the front flap) is expected on the first, and jackets are frequently found price-clipped. Random House's later convention -- "First Edition" plus a number line whose lowest number is 2 -- belongs to the 1970s onward and does not apply to a 1949 book: for this title the copyright-page statement alone governs.

## Is this the true first?
US Random House, New York, 1949 is the true first. The census note's "US-only" is not quite right and is corrected here: a UK edition was published by Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, in 1950 -- reported in green cloth lettered in red -- but it follows the American issue by a year, so it is the first UK edition, not the true first. Name both where the UK is collected: Random House (US, 1949) is the first; Victor Gollancz (London, 1950) is the first UK. Clark published only three novels -- The Ox-Bow Incident (Random House, 1940), The City of Trembling Leaves (1945) and this -- so the Random House firsts are the whole shelf. "First thus" traps: the Signet and later paperback reissues.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club printing of the Random House first is documented in the sources consulted -- the point is simply unrecorded rather than contradicted. If a club copy is encountered, the standard American BCE tells of the period apply: a copyright page lacking the "First Printing" statement, a small blind stamp or dot at the lower right of the rear board, smaller bulk and thinner paper, and a jacket without a price at the flap.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Track of the Cat* by Walter Van Tilburg Clark a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-track-of-the-cat
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.