Houghton Mifflin was a Boston publisher with roots in 1832. Look for a dated title page on early books, a "First printing" statement from the late 1950s and, later, a number line that includes 1.
Houghton Mifflin is a publisher active from 1850. We track 429 editions it published between 1850 and 2018, 335 of them first editions across 423 books. How Houghton Mifflin marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Houghton Mifflin
Houghton Mifflin was a Boston house whose line runs back to 1832, when William Ticknor and John Allen took over a bookselling business in the city. James T. Fields joined in 1843, and as Ticknor and Fields the firm became the publisher of Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau.
Henry Oscar Houghton, who owned the Riverside Press printing works, formed Hurd and Houghton with Richard M. Hurd in 1864, and George H. Mifflin became a partner in 1872. In 1878 Ticknor and Fields joined Hurd and Houghton as Houghton, Osgood and Company; after Osgood's departure the firm took the name Houghton, Mifflin and Company, and in 1908 it was incorporated as Houghton Mifflin Company.
In the twentieth century it handled J. R. R. Tolkien in the United States, published the Curious George books, and issued Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal winner The Giver (1993). A 2007 merger with Harcourt produced Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In 2021 HarperCollins bought the trade division for $349 million, and those books now carry the Mariner Books name.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Houghton Mifflin's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Houghton Mifflin first editions
British practice
1850s to 1950s
A first printing normally has the year in Arabic numerals on the title page, and the date was dropped from later printings. A dated title page with no note of other printings is the first check.
Houghton Mifflin issued American editions of many British books, Tolkien's among them. Such a copy is the first American edition; the true first is the earlier British one.
1950s to early 1970s
From the late 1950s a "First printing" statement appears on the copyright page of first printings. Dealers describe the 1962 Silent Spring this way, with the statement on the copyright page and a 1962 title page.
Book of the Month Club copies of this era's books usually have a small blind-stamped mark on the rear board near the spine.
1970s to 2006
A number line replaced the printing statement. The lowest number in the line is the printing, so a first printing must show the 1; first printings of The Giver (1993) are described with a line running down to 1.
The number line also carries a letter code for the printer or manufacturer. Ignore the letters when reading the printing.
A jacket that shows an award seal is a later printing. Later printings of The Giver carry the Newbery Medal seal; the first printing jacket has none.
From 2007
Books appear as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and, from 2021, as Mariner Books at HarperCollins. Read the number line in the same way: a first printing needs the 1.
US first editions
For most of its history Houghton Mifflin put the year on the title page of a first printing and took it off for later printings, so a copy with no title-page date is not a first printing.
Where a number row appears on the copyright page, the lowest figure is the printing, whatever order the figures run in (1 2 3 4 5, 1 3 5 4 2 or 5 4 3 2 1), so a row that still includes 1 normally means a first printing.
Book-of-the-Month Club copies are usually the same size and quality as the trade edition, so size is no guide. Look instead for a jacket with no price on the front flap and a small blind stamp (a dot, circle or square) low on the rear board. BOMC printed prices on some jackets in the 1970s, but those copies still carry the blind stamp.
A rear-board mark is not always a club sign: a few very large printings were shared between printing plants, each of which embossed its own mark.
How do I identify a Houghton Mifflin first edition?
1850s to 1950s - A first printing normally has the year in Arabic numerals on the title page, and the date was dropped from later printings. A dated title page with no note of other printings is the first check. - Houghton Mifflin issued American editions of many British books, Tolkien's among them. Such a copy is the first American edition; the true first is the earlier British one. 1950s to earl
How many Houghton Mifflin books does MyVolumes track?
We track 429 editions published by Houghton Mifflin, 335 of them first editions, across 423 books.
