# Is "After the First Death" by Lawrence Block a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of After the First Death by Lawrence Block (The Macmillan Company, 1969) is identified by: First edition under Block's own name, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1969, in cloth boards with a printed dust jacket. US Macmillan (The Macmillan Company) true first; a standalone crime novel published under Lawrence Block's own name.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition under Block's own name, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1969, in cloth boards with a printed dust jacket
- On a Macmillan first of this period the copyright page carries no later-printing statement and no additional printings are listed, and the jacket is a first-state trade jacket with the printed price present at the upper front flap
- The book is Block's second hardcover under his own name, following Deadly Honeymoon
- Publisher imprint reads The Macmillan Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lawrence Block |
| Publisher | The Macmillan Company |
| Year | 1969 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition under Block's own name, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1969, in cloth… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition under Block's own name, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1969, in cloth boards with a printed dust jacket. On a Macmillan first of this period the copyright page carries no later-printing statement and no additional printings are listed, and the jacket is a first-state trade jacket with the printed price present at the upper front flap. The book is Block's second hardcover under his own name, following Deadly Honeymoon.

## Is this the true first?
US Macmillan (The Macmillan Company) true first; a standalone crime novel published under Lawrence Block's own name. No earlier hardcover or paperback precedes the 1969 Macmillan printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The trade first is identified by the priced first-state jacket and a copyright page with no later-printing statement. A book-club copy is distinguished by an unpriced jacket (no printed price at the flap) and a small blindstamp impressed into the lower corner of the rear board; a book-club jacket often lacks the printed price even when the plates still read as a first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *After the First Death* by Lawrence Block a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/after-the-first-death
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.