# Is "A Buyer's Market" by Anthony Powell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell (Heinemann, 1952) is identified by: True first is the London Heinemann 1952 hardcover, first impression, volume two of A Dance to the Music of Time. UK Heinemann 1952 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is the London Heinemann 1952 hardcover, first impression, volume two of A Dance to the Music of Time
- Bound in publisher's red cloth with gilt spine lettering against a black backing panel, with no statement of a later printing
- The first-issue dust jacket was designed by Broome Lynne; the priced first-state wrapper is distinguished from the later second state by its longer front flap (the second state is otherwise identical but has a shorter front flap)
- The jacket should retain its printed price
- Publisher imprint reads Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anthony Powell |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
| Year | 1952 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is the London Heinemann 1952 hardcover, first impression, volume two of A Dance to the Music of Time |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first is the London Heinemann 1952 hardcover, first impression, volume two of A Dance to the Music of Time. Bound in publisher's red cloth with gilt spine lettering against a black backing panel, with no statement of a later printing. The first-issue dust jacket was designed by Broome Lynne; the priced first-state wrapper is distinguished from the later second state by its longer front flap (the second state is otherwise identical but has a shorter front flap). The jacket should retain its printed price.

## Is this the true first?
UK Heinemann 1952 is the true first. The first American edition (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953) was printed from the British sheets and is thus a later issue of the same setting; the Scribner jacket carries a rubber-stamped price on the front flap.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later impressions and book-club issues followed; verify the copy carries no later-printing statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Buyer's Market* by Anthony Powell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-buyers-market
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.