# Is "The Web and the Rock" by Thomas Wolfe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Web and the Rock by Thomas Wolfe (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1939) is identified by: First printing has the words First Edition printed on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code E-O (E equals May, O equals the year 1939). True US first; precedes the UK Heinemann edition (1947).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has the words First Edition printed on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code E-O (E equals May, O equals the year 1939)
- Navy blue cloth, gilt and red title block on spine and front panel; first-issue dust jacket carries the printed price
- First of Wolfe's two posthumous novels
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Wolfe |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers, New York |
| Year | 1939 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has the words First Edition printed on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code E-O (E equals May… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing has the words First Edition printed on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code E-O (E equals May, O equals the year 1939). Navy blue cloth, gilt and red title block on spine and front panel; first-issue dust jacket carries the printed price. First of Wolfe's two posthumous novels.

## Is this the true first?
True US first; precedes the UK Heinemann edition (1947). The copyright-page code E-O plus the First Edition statement identifies the first printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club issue for the first. Later Harper printings carry a different month-year code letter pair and drop the First Edition statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Web and the Rock* by Thomas Wolfe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-web-and-the-rock
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.