# Is "The Untamed" by Max Brand (Frederick Faust) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Untamed by Max Brand (Frederick Faust) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1919) is identified by: Putnam's Sons, 1919, title page bearing the "New York and London" imprint, and printed for the publishers at The Knickerbocker Press, New York (Knickerbocker device/colophon present). Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1919, title page bearing the "New York and London" imprint, and printed for the publishers at The Knickerbocker Press, New York (Knickerbocker device/colophon present)
- Collates iv, 374 pp., with two leaves of publisher's advertisements at the rear — a first should retain the ad leaves
- Issued in red cloth lettered in gilt on the upper cover and spine
- Putnam used no printing statement on this book, so the test is negative: the 1919 title-page date with no later-printing notice on the copyright page, plus the Knickerbocker Press colophon and the rear ads
- Dust jackets are rare on this title; on a jacketed copy look for a priced jacket with the price present at the flap
- One ABAA dealer records an advance/review copy whose jacket front is stamped "Published Mar 15" — that is an advance-copy marking, not a general issue point, and should not be treated as a requirement
- Publisher imprint reads G. P. Putnam's Sons

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Max Brand (Frederick Faust) |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
| Year | 1919 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1919, title page bearing the "New York and London" imprint, and printed for the publishers at The… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1919, title page bearing the "New York and London" imprint, and printed for the publishers at The Knickerbocker Press, New York (Knickerbocker device/colophon present). Collates iv, 374 pp., with two leaves of publisher's advertisements at the rear — a first should retain the ad leaves. Issued in red cloth lettered in gilt on the upper cover and spine. Putnam used no printing statement on this book, so the test is negative: the 1919 title-page date with no later-printing notice on the copyright page, plus the Knickerbocker Press colophon and the rear ads. Dust jackets are rare on this title; on a jacketed copy look for a priced jacket with the price present at the flap. One ABAA dealer records an advance/review copy whose jacket front is stamped "Published Mar 15" — that is an advance-copy marking, not a general issue point, and should not be treated as a requirement. No first-state text errors are documented in the sources consulted.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. US first edition and the first book appearance; Faust's first book, and the first of the Max Brand Westerns. The Putnam title page reads "New York and London," but the sheets are American (printed at the Knickerbocker Press, New York) — that dual imprint is Putnam's own house line, not evidence of a separate British edition. No separately set UK first is documented in the sources consulted, so there is no UK/US precedence contest: the 1919 Putnam is the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue documented. The standard trap is the Grosset & Dunlap reprint, which retains the 1919 date and is identified by the Grosset & Dunlap imprint at the foot of the title page and on the spine, coarser paper/bulk, and ads for other G&D titles rather than Putnam's. Later University of Nebraska Press / Bison Books paperback reissues are "first thus" reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Untamed* by Max Brand (Frederick Faust) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-untamed
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.