# Is "The Woman in the Window" by A. J. Finn a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn (William Morrow, 2018) is identified by: The first printing is identified by "First Edition" on the copyright page together with a complete number line in which the 1 is present; dealer descriptions give the first-printing line as running 1 through 10, and a copy whose line has lost the 1 is a later printing. The William Morrow US edition (New York, published 2 January 2018) precedes the UK first from HarperCollins (London, later in January 2018) by roughly three weeks, so the census claim is correct and the Morrow US is the true first — the two are close but not simultaneous.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is identified by "First Edition" on the copyright page together with a complete number line in which the 1 is present; dealer descriptions give the first-printing line as running 1 through 10, and a copy whose line has lost the 1 is a later printing
- Bound in black paper-covered boards with white ink lettering to the spine
- Issued in a priced jacket — the price should be present and unclipped at the front flap
- ISBN 9780062678416
- Caution: the direction of the number line is reported inconsistently across dealer descriptions, so the dependable invariant is the presence of the 1, not the sequence as printed
- No first-state text error is recorded in the sources consulted
- Publisher imprint reads William Morrow

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | A. J. Finn |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
| Year | 2018 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is identified by "First Edition" on the copyright page together with a complete number line in which the 1 is present… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing is identified by "First Edition" on the copyright page together with a complete number line in which the 1 is present; dealer descriptions give the first-printing line as running 1 through 10, and a copy whose line has lost the 1 is a later printing. Bound in black paper-covered boards with white ink lettering to the spine. Issued in a priced jacket — the price should be present and unclipped at the front flap. ISBN 9780062678416; 448 pp. Caution: the direction of the number line is reported inconsistently across dealer descriptions, so the dependable invariant is the presence of the 1, not the sequence as printed. No first-state text error is recorded in the sources consulted. A. J. Finn is the pseudonym of Daniel Mallory.

## Is this the true first?
The William Morrow US edition (New York, published 2 January 2018) precedes the UK first from HarperCollins (London, later in January 2018) by roughly three weeks, so the census claim is correct and the Morrow US is the true first — the two are close but not simultaneous. The HarperCollins UK first is separately collected as the first British edition and should be described as such. The exact UK on-sale date rests on secondary listings rather than a primary publisher record, so the roughly three-week gap, not the precise day, is what the reference should assert.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The title was offered as a Book of the Month selection, and the club issue is the principal trap because it is printed from the trade plates and can reproduce the "First Edition" statement and the full number line. Club copies are distinguished by physical tells, not by the copyright page: no price at the jacket flap, thinner boards and noticeably lighter bulk than the trade issue, and in many cases a small blind stamp — a dot, circle, square, or triangle — impressed into the rear board at the lower corner near the spine, or "Book Club Edition" printed at the lower front flap. Per standard doctrine, any club tell overrides an edition statement or a complete number line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Woman in the Window* by A. J. Finn a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-woman-in-the-window
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.