# Is "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Separate Peace by John Knowles (Secker & Warburg, London, 1959) is identified by: UK true first (Secker & Warburg, London, 1959): copyright page reads 'First published 1959'; octavo, 237 pp; publisher's green cloth (described by dealers as emerald green) with the spine lettered/stamped in silver; priced jacket. TRUE FIRST IS UK — confirmed against multiple independent sources.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- UK true first (Secker & Warburg, London, 1959): copyright page reads 'First published 1959'; octavo, 237 pp; publisher's green cloth (described by dealers as emerald green) with the spine lettered/stamped in silver; priced jacket
- First American (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960): 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page
- 186 pp; grayish blue-gray cloth with dark blue lettering on the spine and front board
- The American edition has two jacket states and this is the point that matters: the first-state jacket carries a cartoon-style illustration of Gene and Finny on the front panel and was withdrawn after the author objected to the artwork, surviving chiefly on review copies; the far commoner second-state jacket drops the illustration entirely and substitutes additional review blurbs on the front and rear panels (E. M. Forster and Truman Capote among them), price present at the flap
- A stated-first-printing Macmillan copy in the second-state jacket is still a first American edition — the jacket state is a separate, additional point, not an edition point
- Publisher imprint reads Secker & Warburg, London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Knowles |
| Publisher | Secker & Warburg, London |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | UK true first (Secker & Warburg, London, 1959): copyright page reads 'First published 1959'; octavo, 237 pp; publisher's green cloth… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
UK true first (Secker & Warburg, London, 1959): copyright page reads 'First published 1959'; octavo, 237 pp; publisher's green cloth (described by dealers as emerald green) with the spine lettered/stamped in silver; priced jacket. First American (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1960): 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page; 186 pp; grayish blue-gray cloth with dark blue lettering on the spine and front board. The American edition has two jacket states and this is the point that matters: the first-state jacket carries a cartoon-style illustration of Gene and Finny on the front panel and was withdrawn after the author objected to the artwork, surviving chiefly on review copies; the far commoner second-state jacket drops the illustration entirely and substitutes additional review blurbs on the front and rear panels (E. M. Forster and Truman Capote among them), price present at the flap. A stated-first-printing Macmillan copy in the second-state jacket is still a first American edition — the jacket state is a separate, additional point, not an edition point.

## Is this the true first?
TRUE FIRST IS UK — confirmed against multiple independent sources. Secker & Warburg (London) published the novel in 1959 after American houses passed on it; Macmillan (New York) followed in 1960, roughly a year later, and is the first American edition, not the first. fedpo's US entry states outright that the true first was published in the UK by Secker & Warburg, preceding the American. Both are collected — the Secker & Warburg as the true first of Knowles's first published novel, the Macmillan as the first American and the text most US readers know. Census claim confirmed as written.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No title-specific book-club variant is documented in the sources consulted. Macmillan-era book-club copies follow the general tells: no price at the jacket flap, a blind-stamped depression near the lower corner of the rear board, thinner paper and a smaller, lighter bulk than the trade issue, and no 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Separate Peace* by John Knowles a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-separate-peace
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.