# Is "White Noise" by Don DeLillo a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of White Noise by Don DeLillo (Viking, 1985) is identified by: Mostly right with two corrections. US Viking is the true first; UK Picador/Cape later.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Mostly right with two corrections
- CONFIRMED: US Viking 1985 is the true first; original jacket with its printed price on the front flap; first-state jacket is unclipped with that price
- National Book Award winner (National Book Foundation lists "Winner, National Book Awards 1985 for Fiction" — note the 1980-86 awards were also branded "American Book Awards," so some listings say American Book Award; modern canonical name is National Book Award, so the claim stands)
- CORRECTION 1 — the number-line point is NOT how this first is identified and appears to be wrong/unverifiable
- The leading specialist reference (fedpo.com) identifies the first edition solely by the copyright-page statement "First published in 1985 by Viking Penguin Inc." with NO mention of subsequent printings — it lists no number line at all
- Multiple bookseller listings likewise authenticate by that copyright statement plus the unclipped the printed price jacket, not by a "number line ending in 1." Drop or rewrite the number-line claim; the real point of issue is the copyright statement with no additional-printing language
- Publisher imprint reads Viking

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Don DeLillo |
| Publisher | Viking |
| Year | 1985 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Mostly right with two corrections |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Mostly right with two corrections. CONFIRMED: US Viking 1985 is the true first; original jacket with its printed price on the front flap; first-state jacket is unclipped with that price; National Book Award winner (National Book Foundation lists "Winner, National Book Awards 1985 for Fiction" — note the 1980-86 awards were also branded "American Book Awards," so some listings say American Book Award; modern canonical name is National Book Award, so the claim stands). CORRECTION 1 — the number-line point is NOT how this first is identified and appears to be wrong/unverifiable. The leading specialist reference (fedpo.com) identifies the first edition solely by the copyright-page statement "First published in 1985 by Viking Penguin Inc." with NO mention of subsequent printings — it lists no number line at all. Multiple bookseller listings likewise authenticate by that copyright statement plus the unclipped the printed price jacket, not by a "number line ending in 1." Drop or rewrite the number-line claim; the real point of issue is the copyright statement with no additional-printing language. CORRECTION 2 — the imprint on the copyright page reads "Viking Penguin Inc." (the spine/binding shows Viking); "Viking imprint" is loosely fine but the precise copyright-page wording is "Viking Penguin Inc." TRUE-FIRST NOTE: US Viking true first = correct. UK first = Picador, 1985 (confirmed). The "/Cape" alternative is unsupported in sources found — there's no evidence of a Jonathan Cape first of White Noise; remove "/Cape." Penguin/Viking "Contemporary Classics"/Penguin Classics framing as a later trade paperback (not the first) = correct.

## Is this the true first?
US Viking is the true first; UK Picador/Cape later. The much-reproduced Penguin/Viking 'Contemporary Classics' is a later trade paperback, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club edition lacks the full number line, carries a blind-stamp, and has a price-absent jacket.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *White Noise* by Don DeLillo a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/white-noise
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.