First Edition Points and Criteria for Leaving Las Vegas

Year Published: 1990
Author Last Name: O'Brien
Author First Name: John
Publisher: Watermark Press
Original Price: $19.50
Pages: 189

First Edition is stated on the copyright page with no references to subsequent printings below it. Boards are black cloth with silver lettering on the spine. The back page following all first and second printings has a bio of the author that describes John O'Brien as married happily and living in Los Angeles. The first issue dust jacket has the same bio on the back flap describing the author living in Los Angeles.

On third and later printings, the bio page describes O'Brien as living "most of his life in California until his death in 1994". A second state dust jacket has the same bio text changes on the back flap mentioning the author's death. This second state dust jacket began to appear on some, but not all, third printing books.

Photos courtesy of Dan Baranow.

John O'Brien committed suicide while the Mike Figgis film adaptation was in production. The film stared starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, and was released in 1995.


Picture of the 1990 first edition dust jacket for Leaving Las Vegas.


Picture of the first edition copyright page for Leaving Las Vegas.


Picture of the front and back flaps for the first edition dust jacket of Leaving Las Vegas. Notice that the bio on the back flap says "John O'Brien was born in 1960 and married happily in 1979. He lives and writes in Los Angeles, California."


Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of Leaving Las Vegas.


Picture of the first edition Watermark Press boards for Leaving Las Vegas.


Picture of the title page for Leaving Las Vegas.


This is the bio page from a first printing of Leaving Las Vegas. It says "John O'Brien was born in 1960 and married happily in 1979. He lives and writes in Los Angeles, California."


The page on the upper left of this photo is from a first printing of Leaving Las Vegas. The page on the bottom right of this photo is from a third printing.