# Is "The Wolfen" by Whitley Strieber a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber (William Morrow, New York, 1978) is identified by: The first printing carries the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. The census claim is confirmed: William Morrow, New York, 1978 is the true first of Strieber's debut novel.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing carries the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
- The number line is the load-bearing point, not the statement: the standard publisher guide records that Morrow has used a number row since 1973 and only sometimes a first-edition statement, and that Morrow occasionally failed to strip the first-edition statement from later printings — so a copy showing "First Edition" but a number line missing the 1 is a later impression
- The book is an octavo in cloth-backed boards, 252 pages, in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the front flap
- ISBN 0-688-03347-4
- Publisher imprint reads William Morrow, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Whitley Strieber |
| Publisher | William Morrow, New York |
| Year | 1978 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing carries the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing carries the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. The number line is the load-bearing point, not the statement: the standard publisher guide records that Morrow has used a number row since 1973 and only sometimes a first-edition statement, and that Morrow occasionally failed to strip the first-edition statement from later printings — so a copy showing "First Edition" but a number line missing the 1 is a later impression. The book is an octavo in cloth-backed boards, 252 pages, in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the front flap; ISBN 0-688-03347-4.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed: William Morrow, New York, 1978 is the true first of Strieber's debut novel. A first British edition was published the same year by Hodder & Stoughton, London (ISBN 0-340-23532-2) and is separately collected as the UK first, but it follows the Morrow printing — Strieber is American and the book was a US origination. The 1992 UK reissue (Melvyn Grant cover) and the later illustrated Artist Edition of 1,000 copies signed by François Vaillancourt in a grey embossed slipcase are "first thus," not firsts.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No Wolfen-specific book-club record surfaced in the sources consulted, but the standard tells for US hardcovers of this period apply and should be checked: a blind stamp (dot, circle or square) impressed into the rear board near the spine, a jacket with no price at the front flap, thinner paper and a smaller trim size, and — for Book-of-the-Month copies — a code printed sideways at the foot of the last page inside the endpaper. A Morrow book-club printing will not carry the number line at all, which settles it against the trade first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Wolfen* by Whitley Strieber a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-wolfen
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.