3 Walter Van Tilburg Clark first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Ox-Bow Incident (1940) to The Track of the Cat (1949) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Walter Van Tilburg Clark 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 Walter Van Tilburg Clark copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Ox-Bow Incident — 1940 · Random HouseDuplicate cross-reference; see main Ox-Bow entry. The true first carries 'First Printing' on the copyright page, in tan/oatmeal cloth with brown spine lettering and the Random House device on the title page and spine. The top edge is dyed gray; 8vo, 309 pages. The US Random House 1940 trade edition is the true first. Do not confuse it with the later Modern Library edition (running-torchbearer colophon), which is a separate first-thus reprint. Later printings drop the 'First Printing' statement. Do not confuse the Modern Library issue (running-torchbearer colophon) or other reprints with the trade first.
- The City of Trembling Leaves — 1945 · Random HouseFirst printings state "First Printing" on the copyright page; Random House used a stated first-printing line and simply removed it for later printings, so an unstated 1945 Random House copy is a subsequent printing — dealers catalog exactly such copies as second printings. Collation is octavo, [xii] plus 690 pages. The binding is light green to light olive cloth with the spine stamped in gilt and teal, and a…. US-only first: Random House, New York, 1945 — the census claim is correct, and no UK edition precedes it in the records consulted. Written in English, so no original-language precedence question arises. The University of Nevada Press reissue in its Western Literature series is a modern reprint, not a competing first, and does not affect precedence. The critical trap is the Sun Dial Press reprint of 1946. Sun Dial was a reprint house that worked from the original publisher's plates, so its reprints can reproduce the original copyright page verbatim — "First Printing" statement and all — which means the copyright page alone will not settle the question on this title. Confirm the Random House imprint on the title page and at the foot of the spine; a Sun Dial….
- The Track of the Cat — 1949 · Random HouseThe first printing is stated: Random House printed "First Printing" / "First Edition" on the copyright page in this era and removed the line on subsequent printings, and independent dealers describing first printings of this title quote the statement directly ("First Edition/First Printing - stated"). Collates 404 pages, octavo. Bound in dark teal cloth stamped in black and gilt. The jacket is by E. McKnight…. US Random House, New York, 1949 is the true first. The census note's "US-only" is not quite right and is corrected here: a UK edition was published by Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, in 1950 -- reported in green cloth lettered in red -- but it follows the American issue by a year, so it is the first UK edition, not the true first. Name both where the UK is collected: Random House (US, 1949) is the first; Victor…. No book-club printing of the Random House first is documented in the sources consulted -- the point is simply unrecorded rather than contradicted. If a club copy is encountered, the standard American BCE tells of the period apply: a copyright page lacking the "First Printing" statement, a small blind stamp or dot at the lower right of the rear board, smaller bulk and thinner paper, and a jacket without a price at….
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