# Is "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (B. W. Huebsch, 1919) is identified by: First edition, first issue: B. US B.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first issue: B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1919
- The census note conflated the points and is corrected here — there are four, and they are distinct
- A map of Winesburg, drawn by Harald Toksvig, printed on the front pastedown/endpaper
- The right frame line of the title page is unbroken
- Page 86, line 5 reads 'lay' for 'lie' ('an intense silence seemed to lay over everything')
- The word 'the' at page 251, line 3 shows broken type
- Publisher imprint reads B. W. Huebsch

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sherwood Anderson |
| Publisher | B. W. Huebsch |
| Year | 1919 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first issue: B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1919 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition, first issue: B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1919. The census note conflated the points and is corrected here — there are four, and they are distinct. (1) A map of Winesburg, drawn by Harald Toksvig, printed on the front pastedown/endpaper. (2) The right frame line of the title page is unbroken. (3) Page 86, line 5 reads 'lay' for 'lie' ('an intense silence seemed to lay over everything'). (4) The word 'the' at page 251, line 3 shows broken type. Point 4 is the broken-type point; page 86 is a textual reading, not broken type. Binding: original yellow (canary to mustard) cloth, publisher's device blind-stamped on the front panel, white paper label printed in black on the spine, yellow topstain. The second state corrects page 86 to 'lie' and shows 'the' unbroken at page 251. The jacket is very rare and should be priced at the flap.

## Is this the true first?
US B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1919 is the true first; the census claim is confirmed on precedence. The first English edition was Jonathan Cape, London, 1922 — described in orange cloth with a white paper spine label and orange-yellow topstain, retaining the Toksvig map on the pastedown. The Cape issue is the first English edition only and does not compete for precedence; its own internal points are not established in the sources consulted here.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The controlling check is the p.86 'lay' reading together with the unbroken title-page frame line and the broken 'the' at p.251 — later Huebsch printings and all subsequent reprints correct these. Modern Library, Viking/Penguin, and Norton critical editions are 'first thus' traps. No book-club issue of the 1919 Huebsch printing is documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Winesburg, Ohio* by Sherwood Anderson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/winesburg-ohio
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.