# Is "The Unvanquished" by William Faulkner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Unvanquished by William Faulkner (Random House, New York, 1938) is identified by: The trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page. US Random House, New York, 1938 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page
- Bound in grey cloth (toned copies are often catalogued as tan) stamped in red and blue, with a red top stain
- 8vo, [8], 293 pp., the first leaf a blank
- Illustrated with drawings by Edward Shenton — the first of Faulkner's American trade books to be illustrated
- Jacket priced at the front flap
- Cited as Petersen A19.1 and Brodsky 193 by Bauman Rare Books, though one ABAA dealer catalogues the trade issue as Petersen A18a, so the Petersen numbering is not consistent across catalogues and should not be used as the sole test
- Publisher imprint reads Random House, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Faulkner |
| Publisher | Random House, New York |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The trade first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page. Bound in grey cloth (toned copies are often catalogued as tan) stamped in red and blue, with a red top stain; 8vo, [8], 293 pp., the first leaf a blank. Illustrated with drawings by Edward Shenton — the first of Faulkner's American trade books to be illustrated. Jacket priced at the front flap. Cited as Petersen A19.1 and Brodsky 193 by Bauman Rare Books, though one ABAA dealer catalogues the trade issue as Petersen A18a, so the Petersen numbering is not consistent across catalogues and should not be used as the sole test. The signed limited issue of 250 numbered copies on rag paper is bound in half burgundy cloth and patterned paper boards with top edge gilt, is signed by Faulkner on the limitation leaf, and was issued in a plain acetate wrapper rather than a printed jacket.

## Is this the true first?
US Random House, New York, 1938 is the true first. Within that publication the signed limited issue of 250 copies precedes the trade printing — Bauman Rare Books states the trade first was "preceded by a signed limited edition of 250 copies" — so the limited, not the trade, is the earliest issue; both are collected, and the trade first in jacket is the standard collector's copy. The first English edition followed from Chatto & Windus (London) later in 1938, set to 319 pp., and carries no precedence claim. First-thus trap: several of the seven linked Sartoris stories had appeared earlier in magazines, so periodical appearances predate the book, but the collected book text is first published here. The census claim is confirmed, with the correction that the 250-copy signed limited precedes the trade printing it named.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the 1938 Random House printing is documented in the sources consulted. Later Random House printings and subsequent reprints lack the "First Printing" line on the copyright page; the line, together with grey cloth stamped in red and blue and the red top stain, is the test. The signed limited is a publisher's issue, not a reprint, and correctly has no printed jacket — only an acetate wrapper.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Unvanquished* by William Faulkner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-unvanquished
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.