# Is "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1940) is identified by: First printing has the words First Edition on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code H-P (H equals August, P equals the year 1940). True US first; precedes the UK Heinemann edition (1947).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has the words First Edition on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code H-P (H equals August, P equals the year 1940)
- Posthumous novel; first-issue dust jacket carries the printed price
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Wolfe |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers, New York |
| Year | 1940 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has the words First Edition on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code H-P (H equals August, P… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing has the words First Edition on the copyright page together with the Harper month-year letter code H-P (H equals August, P equals the year 1940). Posthumous novel; first-issue dust jacket carries the printed price.

## Is this the true first?
True US first; precedes the UK Heinemann edition (1947). The H-P code plus the First Edition statement is the first-printing identifier.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club issue for the first. Later printings carry a different code-letter pair on the copyright page and lack the First Edition statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *You Can't Go Home Again* by Thomas Wolfe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/you-cant-go-home-again
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.