Even advance issues, identical to the first printing trade dust jacket, are without a price statement.

It is the only Pulitzer Prize winning novel whose first trade edition is WITHOUT a price on the dust jacket. THE GOOD EARTH, the first in Buck's trilogy THE HOUSE OF EARTH with the 1932 SONS, and the 1935 A HOUSE DIVIDED. I have a second printing with green stain, a second printing with brown stain, and a third printing with green stain. Otherwise, which came first is sheer speculation. I would welcome additional information if it exists. Priority or precedence of one color stain or the other has no basis in any documentation or logic known to me. It is occasionally reported in combination with 'JOHN DAY PUBLISHING COMPANY' but I've never seen or heard of a copy with both 'JOHN DAY COMPANY' and the green stain, which would be expected if the green stain appeared systematically later than the brown stain. He reports the following:īrown is far more commonly reported, and is on all of my current holdings of first printings (five copies stating John Day Publishing Company and one copy stating John Day Company).

Coffman of TLC Books has performed extensive research on this matter and believes that one does not necessary have priority over the other. Therefore 'flees' is not a first edition point.īrown top stain is widely believed to be the first state, and green top stain is considered the second state. The 'flees' for 'fleas' typo on page 100 is still present in the third printing, so it was not corrected during the first or second printing. The dust jacket is rare and adds most of the value to the book. So although the 'JOHN DAY PUBLISHING COMPANY' error is the first state, the second state 'JOHN DAY COMPANY' is much more scarce.

The bottom of the copyright page says 'FOR THE JOHN DAY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.' which was later changed to 'FOR THE JOHN DAY COMPANY' late into the first printing, and is found on all subsequent printings. BUCK' and there is no mention of subsequent printings. Pages: 375 The copyright page states 'COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY PEARL S. First Edition Points and Criteria for The Good Earth

The good earth book