First Edition Points and Criteria for Now in November

Year Published: 1934
Author Last Name: Johnson
Author First Name: Josephine
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Original Price: $2.00
Pages: 231

Both title page and copyright page should say 1934. No printing statement should be present on the copyright page. The boards are brown cloth with paper labels.

Dust jacket is extremely rare and adds most of the value to the book. The first issue jacket had no fold-out portion on the front flap. A fold-out with reviews was introduced in later printings to promote the book.

The first edition was printed in July of 1934, and only 2,000 copies were produced (that fact is disclosed on the copyright page of the fourth printing.)

Second and third printings are stated as such on their respective copyright pages. They were printed in September of 1934. The fourth printing was produced in October of 1934, and it has a printing history of the prior printings on the copyright page. The print run of the second, third, and fourth printings were 3,000 copies for each.

After theses printings, later printings produced in 1935 have no statement of printing on the copyright page, which looks identical to the first edition copyright page. However, these later printings also state 1935 on the title page rather than 1934.

Now in November won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.


Picture of the 1934 first edition dust jacket for Now in November.


The title page must say 1934.


No printing statement should be present on the copyright page.














The front flap of later issue dust jackets has a fold-out flap with reviews. The fold-out is perforated and was sometimes removed. The fold-out contains an interesting quote by John Farrar (founder of Farrar, Straus & Giroux) which is a (sort of) compliment: "I'd like to wager that first edition copies of Josephine Johnson's Now In November will one day be worth as much as those of any living American writer." He certainly underestimated the value.


On the left is the 1934 first edition dust jacket, and on the right is a later printing from 1935.


Josephine Johnson's signature from a 1962 printing of "Now In November". Photo courtesy of Ernestoic Books.

Other first edition points for books by Josephine Johnson include: Winter Orchard.