# Is "A Book of Mediterranean Food" by Elizabeth David a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Book of Mediterranean Food by Elizabeth David (John Lehmann, 1950) is identified by: Octavo in original pink tweed cloth, the backstrip blocked in brown and lettered in gilt, in the John Minton illustrated dust wrapper (coloured Mediterranean bay and table scene, plus black-and-white Minton decorations within). The UK John Lehmann 1950 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Octavo in original pink tweed cloth, the backstrip blocked in brown and lettered in gilt, in the John Minton illustrated dust wrapper (coloured Mediterranean bay and table scene, plus black-and-white Minton decorations within)
- The jacket is with its printed price on the front flap, as called for
- David's first book
- Publisher imprint reads John Lehmann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth David |
| Publisher | John Lehmann |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Octavo in original pink tweed cloth, the backstrip blocked in brown and lettered in gilt, in the John Minton illustrated dust wrapper… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Octavo in original pink tweed cloth, the backstrip blocked in brown and lettered in gilt, in the John Minton illustrated dust wrapper (coloured Mediterranean bay and table scene, plus black-and-white Minton decorations within). The jacket is with its printed price on the front flap, as called for. David's first book.

## Is this the true first?
The UK John Lehmann 1950 edition is the true first. The revised illustrated Macdonald edition of 1955 and the Penguin paperback of 1955, with a new Minton cover, are later first-thus forms. There was no simultaneous US edition; later American printings are subordinate.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Penguin paperbacks and later Macdonald and Dorling Kindersley reissues are reprints or revisions, not the 1950 first. The fragile Minton jacket, correctly with its printed price, is the key identification and condition point; rebound or jacketless copies are markedly less collectible.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Book of Mediterranean Food* by Elizabeth David a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-book-of-mediterranean-food
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.