# Is "Where the Sea Used to Be" by Rick Bass a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Where the Sea Used to Be by Rick Bass (Houghton Mifflin, 1998) is identified by: Houghton Mifflin first printing with full number line and no additional printings stated; dated 1998; issued in cloth-backed boards with dust jacket. First US edition of the expanded full-length novel (Houghton Mifflin, 1998).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Houghton Mifflin first printing with full number line and no additional printings stated; dated 1998; issued in cloth-backed boards with dust jacket
- Bass's first full-length novel
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rick Bass |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1998 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Houghton Mifflin first printing with full number line and no additional printings stated… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Houghton Mifflin first printing with full number line and no additional printings stated; dated 1998; issued in cloth-backed boards with dust jacket. Bass's first full-length novel.

## Is this the true first?
First US edition of the expanded full-length novel (Houghton Mifflin, 1998). Note that a shorter novella of the same title appeared first within the collection 'The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness' in 1997; the 1998 book is the first separate and expanded novel form.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition concern noted for the first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Where the Sea Used to Be* by Rick Bass a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/where-the-sea-used-to-be
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.