# Is "The Victim" by Saul Bellow a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Victim by Saul Bellow (The Vanguard Press, New York, 1947) is identified by: The Vanguard Press, New York, 1947 — Bellow's second novel, [viii], 294pp, bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in blue. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Vanguard Press, New York, 1947 — Bellow's second novel, [viii], 294pp, bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in blue
- The jacket is pale/powder blue with white lettering to the spine and front panel; the first issue is unclipped with the price present at the front flap, and clipped jackets are common on the market
- Vanguard stated nothing on first printings and noted later impressions on the verso, but the same caution applies as with Dangling Man: the Quill & Brush guide records that Vanguard sometimes failed to note subsequent printings, so a clean verso is not conclusive on its own
- Offsetting and browning to the endpapers and gutters is characteristic of the paper stock and is a condition trait, not a printing point
- Reports of a blue-stained top edge are NOT corroborated across the dealer descriptions consulted — one describes a top-edge stain, another explicitly records none — so do not treat a top-edge stain as a point of issue
- Publisher imprint reads The Vanguard Press, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Saul Bellow |
| Publisher | The Vanguard Press, New York |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Vanguard Press, New York, 1947 — Bellow's second novel, [viii], 294pp, bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in blue |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The Vanguard Press, New York, 1947 — Bellow's second novel, [viii], 294pp, bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in blue. The jacket is pale/powder blue with white lettering to the spine and front panel; the first issue is unclipped with the price present at the front flap, and clipped jackets are common on the market. Vanguard stated nothing on first printings and noted later impressions on the verso, but the same caution applies as with Dangling Man: the Quill & Brush guide records that Vanguard sometimes failed to note subsequent printings, so a clean verso is not conclusive on its own. Offsetting and browning to the endpapers and gutters is characteristic of the paper stock and is a condition trait, not a printing point. Reports of a blue-stained top edge are NOT corroborated across the dealer descriptions consulted — one describes a top-edge stain, another explicitly records none — so do not treat a top-edge stain as a point of issue.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. Vanguard Press, New York, 1947 is the true first. The first UK edition, separately collected, is John Lehmann, London, 1948: blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to the spine, in a jacket designed by Edward Bawden with the British price present at the flap. The Lehmann issue follows the US edition by a year and does not compete for precedence; there is no original-language question.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the 1947 Vanguard printing is documented in the sources consulted. Given Vanguard's inconsistent verso practice, a copy lacking the pale blue priced jacket is effectively unverifiable on the printing question from the book alone. Later Vanguard impressions and post-1950 reissues are the usual confusions.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Victim* by Saul Bellow a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-victim
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.