First Edition Points and Criteria for Raise High the Roof Beam

Year Published: 1963
Author Last Name: Salinger
Author First Name: J.D.
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Original Price: $4.00
Pages: 248

FIRST EDITION is stated on the copyright page. The book was published in 1963, but the copyright says 1955 and 1959. There are apparently three states of the first edition. The story behind this is that a production error caused the book the entire first printing to be produced without the dedication page. To correct it, the publisher tipped-in the dedication page in two separate positions. The consequence is that there are three states of the first edition. The first state has no dedication page, the second state has the dedication page tipped-in before the half-title, and the third state has the dedication page tipped-in after the copyright page. It was originally thought that there were very few first states, but there seems to be plenty in the market. A possible explaination could be that some people have found a way to remove the dedication page. The second state seems to be rare, while the third state is common. Note: Some book sellers will mistakenly refer to the third state as the second state.


Picture of the 1963 first edition dust jacket for Raise High the Roof Beam.


Picture of the first edition copyright page for Raise High the Roof Beam.


Picture of dust jacket where original $4.00 price is found for Raise High the Roof Beam.


Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of Raise High the Roof Beam.

Other first edition points for books by J.D. Salinger include: The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey.