# Is "Typhoon" by Joseph Conrad a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Typhoon by Joseph Conrad (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902) is identified by: First edition in book form, G.P. American true first: 'Typhoon' first appeared in book form in the Putnam separate edition (New York, 1902), preceding its first English book appearance in the collection 'Typhoon and Other Stories' (William Heinemann, London, 1903).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition in book form, G.P. Putnam's Sons / The Knickerbocker Press (New York, the imprint also naming London), 1902 (published September 1902); pagination v, [1], 204, [5] pp, with 4 pp of publisher's advertisements concluding the volume
- Illustrated with a frontispiece and five inserted plates by Maurice Greiffenhagen, and bound in pictorial dark green cloth with orange lettering and an embossed ship device above the title
- Cited as Smith 7 and Supino A8
- Publisher imprint reads G.P. Putnam's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joseph Conrad |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Year | 1902 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition in book form, G.P. Putnam's Sons / The Knickerbocker Press (New York, the imprint also naming London), 1902 (published… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition in book form, G.P. Putnam's Sons / The Knickerbocker Press (New York, the imprint also naming London), 1902 (published September 1902); pagination v, [1], 204, [5] pp, with 4 pp of publisher's advertisements concluding the volume. Illustrated with a frontispiece and five inserted plates by Maurice Greiffenhagen, and bound in pictorial dark green cloth with orange lettering and an embossed ship device above the title. Cited as Smith 7 and Supino A8.

## Is this the true first?
American true first: 'Typhoon' first appeared in book form in the Putnam separate edition (New York, 1902), preceding its first English book appearance in the collection 'Typhoon and Other Stories' (William Heinemann, London, 1903). Both are collected in their own right.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
First-thus trap: the 1903 Heinemann 'Typhoon and Other Stories' is a genuine first edition of that collected volume but is not the first book appearance of the tale 'Typhoon,' which is the 1902 Putnam. No book-club edition is documented for the 1902 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Typhoon* by Joseph Conrad a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/typhoon
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.