# Is "The Way Some People Live" by John Cheever a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Way Some People Live by John Cheever (Random House, New York, 1943) is identified by: Random House, New York, published 8 March 1943 — Cheever's first book, thirty stories arranged roughly chronologically, octavo, bound in original red buckram, in a jacket with the price present at the front flap. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Random House, New York, published 8 March 1943 — Cheever's first book, thirty stories arranged roughly chronologically, octavo, bound in original red buckram, in a jacket with the price present at the front flap
- Random House's practice across 1936–1975 (per the Quill & Brush publisher guide and the Books Tell You Why publisher article) was to state 'First Edition' on the copyright page of the first printing and to carry no statement on later printings; the title-specific wording was not independently confirmed from two sources, so verify that the statement is present and that no later-printing notice appears
- No number line exists on any state of this book — Random House did not adopt number rows until decades later, so a number line rules a copy out at once
- Chipping at the spine head (which characteristically attacks the word 'The') and soiling to the rear jacket panel are the usual condition faults rather than points, and darkening to the gutters is characteristic of the wartime stock — dealers note its absence as exceptional rather than as evidence of an earlier state
- Publisher imprint reads Random House, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Cheever |
| Publisher | Random House, New York |
| Year | 1943 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Random House, New York, published 8 March 1943 — Cheever's first book, thirty stories arranged roughly chronologically, octavo, bound in… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Random House, New York, published 8 March 1943 — Cheever's first book, thirty stories arranged roughly chronologically, octavo, bound in original red buckram, in a jacket with the price present at the front flap. Random House's practice across 1936–1975 (per the Quill & Brush publisher guide and the Books Tell You Why publisher article) was to state 'First Edition' on the copyright page of the first printing and to carry no statement on later printings; the title-specific wording was not independently confirmed from two sources, so verify that the statement is present and that no later-printing notice appears. No number line exists on any state of this book — Random House did not adopt number rows until decades later, so a number line rules a copy out at once. Chipping at the spine head (which characteristically attacks the word 'The') and soiling to the rear jacket panel are the usual condition faults rather than points, and darkening to the gutters is characteristic of the wartime stock — dealers note its absence as exceptional rather than as evidence of an earlier state.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. Random House, New York, 1943 is the only edition and therefore the true first: no UK edition is recorded in the dealer listings or catalogue records consulted, and there is no original-language or precedence question. Cheever refused to let the book be reprinted and his estate maintained that refusal, so there is no later trade edition in English; only three of the thirty stories were ever reprinted, in an obscure 1960s paperback. Several stories had appeared first in The New Yorker, Collier's, Story, the Yale Review and Harper's Bazaar, so the Random House volume is first in book form.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition exists, because the book was never reprinted — this is the rare title where reprint tells are largely unnecessary. The only genuine hazards are a later-printing Random House copy, identified by the absence of the first-edition statement on the copyright page, and a supplied or facsimile jacket on an otherwise correct book. Wartime printing in small numbers means fine copies are scarce; condition, not edition, is the usual question.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Way Some People Live* by John Cheever a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-way-some-people-live
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.