Vintage

 To Kill a Mockingbird first edition

As most people know, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best-loved classics of all time. It has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than forty million copies worldwide. In 1962 it was also made into the film starring Gregory Peck, which won three Academy Awards. Therefore, this post will not be dedicated to the plot or characters of the novel, but instead to the basic understanding of how to identify a first edition of this book.

First Edition Issue Points

To Kill a Mockingbird was published by J.B. Lippincott Co. of Philadelphia in 1960 and became an almost immediate bestseller, winning the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

There is a little debate regarding the first edition jacket as it appears to have been two states. One state has two reviews on the back flap – by Shirley Ann Grau and Phyllis McGinley. The other state dust jacket has a single Jonathan Daniels review and this is more common. There is no agreement among professionals regarding which state came first.