diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 3fa3f7e5d..78fd1ed9b 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # testthat (development version)
 
+* `local_edition()` now gives a useful error for bad values (#1547).
 * testthat now requires R 4.1.
 * `expect_s4_class()` now supports unquoting (@stibu81, #2064).
 * `it()` now finds the correct evaluation environment in more cases (@averissimo, #2085).
diff --git a/R/edition.R b/R/edition.R
index 333f53322..c2bf9c9dd 100644
--- a/R/edition.R
+++ b/R/edition.R
@@ -61,8 +61,7 @@ edition_name <- function(x) {
 #' @param x Edition Should be a single integer.
 #' @param .env Environment that controls scope of changes. For expert use only.
 local_edition <- function(x, .env = parent.frame()) {
-  stopifnot(is_zap(x) || (is.numeric(x) && length(x) == 1))
-
+  check_number_whole(x, min = 2, max = 3)
   local_bindings(edition = x, .env = the, .frame = .env)
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/edition.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/edition.md
index da4619866..82cb92c69 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/edition.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/edition.md
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+# checks its inputs
+
+    Code
+      local_edition("x")
+    Condition
+      Error in `local_edition()`:
+      ! `x` must be a whole number, not the string "x".
+    Code
+      local_edition(5)
+    Condition
+      Error in `local_edition()`:
+      ! `x` must be a whole number between 2 and 3, not the number 5.
+
 # deprecation only fired for newer edition
 
     Code
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-edition.R b/tests/testthat/test-edition.R
index c01c28b50..9e3810fc2 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-edition.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-edition.R
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@ test_that("can locally override edition", {
   expect_equal(edition_get(), 2)
 })
 
+test_that("checks its inputs", {
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, {
+    local_edition("x")
+    local_edition(5)
+  })
+})
+
 test_that("deprecation only fired for newer edition", {
   local_edition(2)
   expect_warning(edition_deprecate(3, "old stuff"), NA)
@@ -34,7 +41,8 @@ test_that("edition for non-package dir is 2", {
 })
 
 test_that("can set the edition via an environment variable", {
-  local_edition(zap())
+  local_bindings(edition = zap(), .env = the)
+  
   withr::local_envvar(TESTTHAT_EDITION = 2)
   expect_equal(edition_get(), 2)