Bless the Beasts and Children

Club copies are abundant and are the main trap on this title: the novel was simultaneously a Literary Guild selection, a Doubleday Book Club selection, and a Reader's Digest Condensed Book. Doubleday club printings are documented as smaller and thinner-bulked with cheaper binding and paper; the jacket carries no price, formerly stated "Book Club Edition" at the bottom corner of the front flap, frequently lacks a bar code on the rear panel, and shows a five-digit code in a white block. A blind stamp at the lower rear board is a further club tell. Critically, a club copy can still show "First Edition" on the copyright page because the statement was not always removed from the plates — the stated line alone never establishes a trade first.