Search for photons of energy >50 TeV from SN 1987A in early 1988

We report analysis of data from the South Pole Air Shower Experiment taken in January and February 1988 while the array was being commissioned. These first results are already of interest because they lead to a limit on an air-shower signal from SN 1987A comparable to the best existing limit and also because the supernova produced a high x-ray flux and a possible TeV signal during that period.