Does anyone know if the first true edition of Keillor's "Lake Wobegon Days" was a book club edition?

Question

I was recently sold a signed book club edition and I questioned that it was a true first edition. However, the seller assured me that ,as with this book, there are cases in which book club editions are the true first editions. On the copyright page, the book does have the date as 1985 and first published by Viking Penguin, Inc. There is an ISBN number on the back of the jacket and on the inside flap at the bottom, it says, A Book of the Month Club Dual Main Selection. Please help and thanks to the person(s) knowledge enough to answer this question.

Answer 1

OK, I'm about to open a bookstore, so I could be said to be defining myself as an expert in such matters. But I'm not. Not to this extent anyway. What I would say is that, even if the Book Club Edition was chronologically first, a serious "first edition" collector would probably want the first edition of the "original" publisher. That is, the publisher Keillor first sold the book to, who then contracted with the book club with perhaps unseemly haste. In fact, a real book collector type book collector might want a copy of each, and a copy of the publication that told the tale. Perhaps the book club's original brochure, if nothing else.

But if someone brings an autographed edition to me to buy, I'm afraid I will offer them no more than an un-autographed copy, as authentication is not worth the trouble for anyone other than a specialist. And yes, fake autographs are relatively common.

Answer 2

I have linked to a pretty thorough bibliographic analysis of the first edition of the book. Im no expert either, but must admit I don;t think book club editions are considered "first editions" for collectors. Sometimes books are released first in special limited editions, signed by the author, expressly for selling to collectors, but that wouldn't be a Book of the Month Club book

Answer 3

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