3 Conrad Richter first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Sea of Grass (1937) to The Town (1950) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Conrad Richter title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Conrad Richter copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Sea of Grass — 1937 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page and carries the Borzoi/Knopf colophon. Brown buckram boards with stencil design by W. A. Dwiggins; first-issue priced dust jacket. New Mexico cattle-versus-homesteader classic; filmed in 1947. A separate signed presentation issue of 250 copies was distributed as a publisher's Christmas gift in 1937. US Knopf 1937 is the true first. Movie-tie-in printings and later Knopf reprints are separate, later states. The stated 'FIRST EDITION,' Borzoi colophon, and priced first-issue jacket distinguish the trade first. Book-club copies omit the statement, carry an unpriced jacket, and bear a blind stamp on the rear board.
- The Fields — 1946 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst printings state "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, consistent with Knopf's practice from about 1933-34 onward; the Borzoi device and the "This is a Borzoi Book" line are house furniture on all Knopf titles and are not first-printing points. The decisive trap on this title is Knopf's before-publication printings: copies whose copyright page records a second printing before publication are SECOND…. US-only first: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, published 28 March 1946 — the census claim of a Knopf first is confirmed, and no UK edition precedes it in the records consulted (the Transworld British paperback dates only to 1958). Written in English, so no original-language precedence question arises. The census description is accurate: this is the middle volume of the Awakening Land trilogy, standing between The…. The main "first thus" trap is the omnibus: The Awakening Land, collecting all three novels in one volume, was first issued by Knopf in September 1966 and is not a first of The Fields. The likeliest misidentification, however, is the before-publication second printing described above, which shares the 1946 date and the Knopf imprint and is distinguished only by the copyright-page wording. No Knopf book-club….
- The Town — 1950 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page with the Borzoi colophon. Red cloth, blue lettering and grey decoration to front board and spine, grey top stain; first-issue priced dust jacket designed by John O'Hara Cosgrave II. Third volume of The Awakening Land trilogy; won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, so the first-issue jacket predates any Pulitzer notice. US Knopf 1950 is the true first. Jackets advertising the Pulitzer Prize belong to later printings. Book-club editions omit the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, carry a Pulitzer-free but unpriced jacket, and show a blind stamp on the rear board.
More Nature, Western & Americana shelves: David Halberstam, Edward Abbey, Francis Parkman, Frank Waters, Gretel Ehrlich, Harvey Fergusson.
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