The Souls of Black Folk

US A. C. McClurg (Chicago), 1903 is the true first. Multiple printings/editions followed quickly, each dated on the copyright page — e.g. Second Edition (June 1, 1903), Third Edition (August 1, 1903), and a Fifth Edition (November 1, 1904); McClurg issued some two dozen editions through 1940. Only the first printing ('Published April, 1903,' with no later statement) is the true first; the many later dated printings are common and frequently miscatalogued as firsts.