Famous First Facts

Famous First Facts is a book listing "First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States". The current version of the book — the seventh edition (ISBN 978-1-61925-468-8), published in March 2015 — includes more than 8,000 entries on 1,400 pages.[1]

The book was originally published by H. W. Wilson Company in 1933, weighing in at 757 pages and selling for $3.50.[2] The book was created by Joseph Nathan Kane, a freelance journalist who had assembled 3,000 "firsts" into a text that had been rejected by 11 other publishers before it was accepted by its current publisher. The book became a library reference standard.[3][4]

The first edition led to a 1938–39 radio show hosted by Kane on the Mutual Broadcasting System.[5]

The second edition of the book was published in 1950, the third in 1964, the fourth in 1981 and the fifth in 1997.[6] The sixth edition (1,300 pages) was published in 2006, and the seventh edition (1,400 pages) was published in 2015.[1]

See also

References
  1. Famous First Facts (7th ed.). New York: H. W. Wilson Company. ISBN 978-1-61925-468-8. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  2. "Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States. By Joseph Nathan Kane. Illustrated. 757 pp. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company. $3.50". The New York Times. May 14, 1933. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
  3. Severo, Richard (September 27, 2002). "Joseph Nathan Kane Dies; Master of Minutiae Was 103". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
  4. Altschiller, Donald (February 12, 2012). "In Praise of Reference-Book Authors". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  5. "Joseph Nathan Kane". Current Biography. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
  6. Podell, Janet; Anzovin, Steven (2006). Famous First Facts (6th ed.). New York: H. W. Wilson Company. p. vii.


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