3 Ernest J. Gaines first editions are documented on this shelf, from Catherine Carmier (1964) to A Lesson Before Dying (1993) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Ernest J. Gaines 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 Ernest J. Gaines copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Catherine Carmier — 1964 · AtheneumThe first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page — this is the primary and decisive point, and it accords with documented Atheneum practice for the period: Atheneum stated first edition on the copyright page and did not adopt a number row until the mid-1980s, so no number line should be present on a 1964 first. The book is an octavo, [vi], 248 pp., quarter-bound in cloth over green paper-covered…. US Atheneum (New York), 1964, is the true first and the only contemporaneous edition; no British edition of Gaines's first book was traced in the sources consulted. This is Gaines's first book — the first Gaines 'A' item — and a rewrite of the manuscript he wrote at seventeen and destroyed after rejection. Later Vintage/North Point paperback issues are 'first thus' reprints, not firsts. No book-club issue of Catherine Carmier is documented in the sources consulted. Because the first printing is identified by an explicit copyright-page statement rather than a number line, any copy lacking the 'First Edition' statement is a later printing or a reprint regardless of the date on the title page.
- The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman — 1971 · Dial PressThe first printing states "FIRST PRINTING" at the foot of the copyright page — a positive statement, so its absence disqualifies a copy. Boards are a brown simulated/faux leather. Page count is given as 245 pp (some dealers cite 244). The jacket's rear panel carries a photograph of the author together with blurbs by Max Steele, Alice Walker, and James Alan McPherson; a priced jacket with the price present at the…. US The Dial Press, New York, 1971 is the true first. The first British edition was published by Michael Joseph, London; the 1973 date carried in the census could not be corroborated against two independent sources and should not be asserted as fact. The Dial edition holds precedence regardless. No specific book-club tells (blind stamp, absent flap price, reduced bulk) are documented for this title in the sources consulted, and none should be asserted without confirmation. The reliable disqualifier remains the negative one: any copy lacking the stated "FIRST PRINTING" line at the foot of the Dial copyright page is not the first printing.
- A Lesson Before Dying — 1993 · Alfred A. KnopfThe true first is Alfred A. Knopf (Borzoi), New York, 1993, bound in white quarter-cloth over black boards with the title blind-stamped on the front board. The first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page (Knopf's convention: the statement is removed on later printings); the priced dust jacket carries a "4/93" date code on the lower rear flap. The exact terminal digit of the number line could not…. US Knopf 1993 is the true first (NBCC Award winner); the UK Serpent's Tail edition follows (c. 1994) and is not the first. US precedes. Book-club editions (e.g., Book-of-the-Month/QPB) and later Oprah's Book Club / Vintage paperback printings (1997+) are not the first: club copies typically show a blind-stamp to the rear board, thinner boards, and an unpriced jacket. A price-clipped jacket also disqualifies the first-issue price/date point.
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