# Is "Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson" by Mitch Albom a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom (Doubleday, 1997) is identified by: Doubleday, New York, published 18 August 1997, ISBN 0-385-48451-8 (9780385484510). The US Doubleday edition (New York, 18 August 1997) is the true first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Doubleday, New York, published 18 August 1997, ISBN 0-385-48451-8
- The copyright page states "First Edition" AND carries a complete number line with the 1 present — both must be there
- Doubleday drops the edition statement on later printings while the number line advances, and dealers continue to list such copies as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd printing" (and 5th, 8th, 9th printings are all in the trade), so a "first edition" tag alone proves nothing
- Bound in half cream cloth over beige patterned boards; dealer collations vary between roughly 192 and 224 pages, with line-drawn vignettes at the chapter headings and a black-and-white photograph at the rear
- Priced jacket / price present at the flap, unclipped
- No first-state text error, binding variant or jacket variant is documented for this title
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mitch Albom |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Year | 1997 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Doubleday, New York, published 18 August 1997, ISBN 0-385-48451-8 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Doubleday, New York, published 18 August 1997, ISBN 0-385-48451-8 (9780385484510). The copyright page states "First Edition" AND carries a complete number line with the 1 present — both must be there. Doubleday drops the edition statement on later printings while the number line advances, and dealers continue to list such copies as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd printing" (and 5th, 8th, 9th printings are all in the trade), so a "first edition" tag alone proves nothing. Bound in half cream cloth over beige patterned boards; dealer collations vary between roughly 192 and 224 pages, with line-drawn vignettes at the chapter headings and a black-and-white photograph at the rear. Priced jacket / price present at the flap, unclipped. No first-state text error, binding variant or jacket variant is documented for this title.

## Is this the true first?
The US Doubleday edition (New York, 18 August 1997) is the true first edition. The UK first followed from Little, Brown, London, in 1998 (Amazon UK records a 12 April 1998 issue) and has no precedence; it is the collected British first, but only the Doubleday is the first edition. A further trap: the Hodder & Stoughton UK issue of 2001 is later still and is "first thus" only, despite being the UK edition most often encountered. One census claim is not supported and should not ship: the note that the Doubleday first printing was "small / pre-phenomenon" is plausible given the book's later Oprah-driven run through many printings, but no print-run figure is documented in any source consulted, and none should be quoted.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club copies of a 1997 Doubleday show the standard late-1990s tells: no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed on the front flap instead), a small blindstamp — a dot, square, circle or similar — on the lower rear board, and thinner, lighter bulk with cheaper boards than the trade copy. Doubleday gutter codes do NOT apply and should not be looked for: that practice ran only from mid-1958 to mid-1987 and had been discontinued a decade before this book. The commoner trap is not a club copy but a Doubleday trade later printing — confirm that both the "First Edition" statement and the 1 in the number line are present.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson* by Mitch Albom a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tuesdays-with-morrie-an-old-man-a-young-man-and-lifes-greate
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.