James Welch First Editions

• Riding the Earthboy 40 — 1971 · The World Publishing CompanyThe first printing states "First printing" on the copyright page — World Publishing's practice was to state either "First Edition" or "First Printing" on the copyright page of firsts (Quill & Brush; ILAB), and multiple independent dealers (Alexanderplatz Books, Grendel Books, River Break Books, Peter Keisogloff Rare Books, Compass Rose, Town's End) describe 1971 copies as stated first printings. Physical points:…. US-only true first: The World Publishing Company, New York, 1971 — Welch's first book. Scarce for a documented reason: dealers consistently report that World folded as the book was being introduced and the edition was never properly distributed. The trap on this title is the Harper & Row edition (New York; dated 1975 or 1976 in dealer listings, most commonly 1976), which is a REVISED AND EXPANDED edition adding…. No book-club issue is documented for the World 1971 edition — the printing barely reached the trade. The reprint to watch for is the Harper & Row revised and expanded edition, which is a different text, not a club copy. Remainder-marked World copies are still first printings.
• Winter in the Blood — 1974 · Harper & RowFirst printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page. Critically, for Harper & Row titles of this period (1969 to the mid-1970s) the printing key is NOT on the copyright page but in the gutter at the foot of the final leaf, immediately before the rear free endpaper; a first printing's row ends in 1. Harper & Row was notoriously inconsistent about deleting the "FIRST EDITION" statement from later printings,…. US Harper & Row, New York, 1974 is the true first and the only collected first; it was the third title issued under Harper & Row's Native American Publishing Program. No competing UK hardcover first is recorded — Welch was published first in America. The Bantam paperback (1975) and all Penguin / Penguin Classics issues are later reprints. The G. K. Hall large-print edition (Boston, 1986) is a "first thus" trap:…. No US book-club issue is documented for the 1974 Harper & Row printing. Later Harper / HarperCollins, Bantam, Penguin and Penguin Classics issues carry their own imprints and ISBNs and are readily separated. The 1986 G. K. Hall large-print hardcover is a reprint despite its format.
• The Death of Jim Loney — 1979 · Harper & RowThe first printing carries the "FIRST EDITION" statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line ending in 1 — dealers describe first copies as "stated first edition with full number line." The number line governs, and this is the standing Harper trap: Harper & Row stated "First Edition" on the copyright page but frequently failed to strip that statement from later printings, so the statement…. US-only true first: Harper & Row, New York, 1979 (ISBN 0-06-014588-9) — Welch's third book and second novel. No 1979 British edition was traced; the UK issue is the Penguin paperback (ISBN 0140102918, circa 1987) and is a reprint. The Harper Colophon/Perennial paperback (ISBN 0-06-080538-2) and the Penguin Classics edition (2008, with an introduction by Jim Harrison) are "first thus" reprints. Only the 1979…. No book-club issue is documented for this title in the sources consulted. If a copy turns up without a price at the jacket flap, with a blind stamp or deboss at the lower rear board, or on smaller trim, treat it as a club copy regardless of any "First Edition" statement — the Harper practice of leaving the statement in place makes the number line and the physical tells the only reliable evidence.

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