First Edition Points and Criteria for Them

Year Published: 1969
Author Last Name: Oates
Author First Name: Joyce Carol
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Original Price: $6.95
Pages: 508

First Edition or First Printing is NOT stated on the copyright page, but there are also no statements of additional printings. Boards are gray cloth with yellow topstain. Dust jacket is gray. Photo of author on the back of dust jacket is taken indoors, and author is looking to her left (toward spine of book). The photo credit lacks "Black Star". The top of the front dust jacket flap has reviews by Publishers' Weekly and The Kirkus Reviews. The bottom of the front dust jacket flap has a $6.95 price.

Them was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and the National Book Award winner.


Picture of the 1969 first edition dust jacket for Them.


Picture of the first edition copyright page for Them.


Picture of dust jacket where original $6.95 price is found for Them.


Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of Them.


Picture of the first edition Vanguard Press boards for Them.


Picture of the back dust jacket flap for the first edition of Them.


Picture of the first edition title page for Them.




The book on the left is the true first edition (the first printing). The book on the right is a fourth printing of the first edition. Note the color difference.


The true first edition dust jacket (on the left) features a photo of Joyce Carol Oates taken indoors and looking to her left. Later issue jackets (like the one on the right) feature a photo of Oates outdoors and looking to her right.


The dust jacket on the bottom is the true first. It has two reviews (Publishers' Weekly and Kirkus Reviews). The dust jacket on top is from a fourth printing. It has four reviews (The Atlantic, The N.Y. Times, TIME Magazine, and The Milwaukee Journal).

Other first edition points for books by Joyce Carol Oates include: We Were the Mulvaneys, The Gravedigger's Daughter, Marriages and Infidelities.