# Is "The White Album" by Joan Didion a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The White Album by Joan Didion (Simon & Schuster, 1979) is identified by: The first printing of the first US edition is identified by a complete descending-from-one number line — the full row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 present on the copyright page; any copy missing the 1 is a later printing. The census claim is confirmed: the true first is the US edition, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1979.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing of the first US edition is identified by a complete descending-from-one number line — the full row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 present on the copyright page; any copy missing the 1 is a later printing
- Simon & Schuster had adopted a number row by the early 1970s, so the number line, not a printing statement, is the governing point for this title
- Binding is publisher's quarter black cloth over red boards, 223/224 pp. depending on how the terminal leaves are counted
- Issued in a color pictorial dust jacket designed by Robert Anthony; refer to a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, as clipped jackets are common
- Light sunning to the top edge of the front board is typical of the first printing and is a condition trait rather than an issue point
- Publisher imprint reads Simon & Schuster
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joan Didion |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Year | 1979 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing of the first US edition is identified by a complete descending-from-one number line — the full row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing of the first US edition is identified by a complete descending-from-one number line — the full row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 present on the copyright page; any copy missing the 1 is a later printing. Simon & Schuster had adopted a number row by the early 1970s, so the number line, not a printing statement, is the governing point for this title. Binding is publisher's quarter black cloth over red boards, 223/224 pp. depending on how the terminal leaves are counted. Issued in a color pictorial dust jacket designed by Robert Anthony; refer to a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, as clipped jackets are common. Light sunning to the top edge of the front board is typical of the first printing and is a condition trait rather than an issue point.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed: the true first is the US edition, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1979. The first UK edition, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979 (ISBN 0297777025, 222 pp.), followed and used the same jacket design; it is collected as the first English edition but does not have precedence. US priority is the collecting point.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club printing of the 1979 Simon & Schuster issue is documented in the sources consulted; the number line is the reliable discriminator, since later Simon & Schuster printings and the Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Noonday reissues drop the low digits or carry a different imprint entirely.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The White Album* by Joan Didion a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-white-album
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.