Sophie's Choice

Sophie’s Choice, first published in 1979, is a controversial novel written by American author William Styron, which follows the trials and tribulations of three people sharing a boarding house in Brooklyn. One of the three is Stingo, an aspiring young writer who begins his stay at the boarding house after being fired. He proceeds to strike up a friendship with a complicated couple–Nathan Landau, a Jewish scientist and self-proclaimed genius, and Sophie Zawistowska, a Polish-Catholic woman who survived Nazi concentration camps. Following its publication, the novel was banned or censored in South Africa, the Soviet Union, and Communist Poland. These acts of censorship occurred in large part due to the explicit nature of portions of the novel, and Styron’s reframing of focus on the anti-Semitic nature of the Holocaust towards a generalized evil. Though largely controversial, the trio’s twisted and macabre tale won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 1980 and was adapted into a film in 1982.

There are two potential first editions of Sophie’s Choice. 

One of the two was published by Random House in 1979. Only 500 copies were included in this edition. The format is hardcover, with blue boards and a blue slipcase. This is an octavo book with a gilt facsimile signature on the front cover, and a spine with additional gilt. As this edition has been signed by the author, it is more valuable than other editions. 

The other potential first edition was published by Franklin Library in 1979. There are illustrations within done by Alan Reingold. This is a hardcover, leatherbound book. Collectors can identify this book based on the gilt decorations on the cover, “First Edition” printed on the spine, and “this limited first edition of SOPHIE’S CHOICE by William Styron has been privately printed exclusively for Members of The First Edition Society” printed on the inside.