First Edition Points and Criteria for Cross Creek

Year Published: 1942
Author Last Name: Rawlings
Author First Name: Marjorie Kinnan
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Original Price: $2.50
Pages: 368

The first edition has an "A" on copyright page, and it is our opinion that the first edition also has the Scribner's seal (a.k.a. colophon) on the bottom of the copyright page. The Scribner's seal is typically an indication that the book was printed by the Scribner Press, and not by a reprint house. Copies with the "A" and the seal are also less common than copies with the "A" but without the seal.

However there is some uncertainty about the meaning of the Scribner's seal on this particular title. There is at least one bibliography (the Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography) that characterizes copies with the "A" and without the seal as the first printing, and copies with the "A" and the seal as third printings.

We have compared "A" copies with the seal, and without the seal, and have found no obvious signs in the books themselves to indicate that one proceeds the other. Both have the same green boards with the same silver lettering. Neither books have blind stamps. The only difference we have found is that our copies with the seal have rough-cut pages and no top stain - while the non-seal books have straight-edge pages and a faint top stain.

We welcome your input on the subject.


Picture of the 1942 first edition dust jacket for Cross Creek.

Other first edition points for books by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings include: The Yearling.