# Is "White Butterfly" by Walter Mosley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of White Butterfly by Walter Mosley (W. W. Norton & Company, 1992) is identified by: The first printing is the W. The census claim is correct: the true first is Norton, New York, January 1992.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is the W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1992 hardcover (ISBN 0-393-03366-X), octavo, 272 pp., in publisher's half/quarter navy-blue cloth over light blue paper-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt
- The copyright page carries a 'First Edition' statement
- Norton first printings of this period pair that statement with a number line in which the 1 is present, and because Norton is documented to have occasionally failed to delete the statement on later printings, the number line — not the words 'First Edition' alone — governs the printing
- The jacket bears a painting by John Jinks with design by Hugh O'Neill; a first-issue jacket is unclipped with the price present at the front flap
- Dealer copies described as 'First Edition
- Second Printing' circulate, so the statement by itself must not be taken as proof of first printing
- Publisher imprint reads W. W. Norton & Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Walter Mosley |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
| Year | 1992 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is the W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1992 hardcover (ISBN 0-393-03366-X), octavo, 272 pp., in publisher's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing is the W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1992 hardcover (ISBN 0-393-03366-X), octavo, 272 pp., in publisher's half/quarter navy-blue cloth over light blue paper-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt. The copyright page carries a 'First Edition' statement; Norton first printings of this period pair that statement with a number line in which the 1 is present, and because Norton is documented to have occasionally failed to delete the statement on later printings, the number line — not the words 'First Edition' alone — governs the printing. The jacket bears a painting by John Jinks with design by Hugh O'Neill; a first-issue jacket is unclipped with the price present at the front flap. Dealer copies described as 'First Edition; Second Printing' circulate, so the statement by itself must not be taken as proof of first printing.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is correct: the true first is Norton, New York, January 1992. The first UK edition followed from Serpent's Tail (London) in 1993 and is collected as the first British edition only, not as the true first; Serpent's Tail had also issued Mosley's earlier Easy Rawlins titles in the UK, which can mislead. This is the third Easy Rawlins novel; the later Pocket Books / Washington Square Press paperbacks (1993 and after) are reprints, and any 'first thus' description attached to them should be disregarded.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No US book-club issue of the Norton first was documented in the sources consulted. Standard book-club tells apply to any club copy encountered: a blind-stamped colophon (dot, square, circle or triangle) impressed into the rear board near the spine, no price at the jacket flap, no barcode on the jacket rear, a smaller trim size, lower-bulk paper, and absence of the publisher's number line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *White Butterfly* by Walter Mosley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/white-butterfly
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.