# Is "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Collins Crime Club, 1939) is identified by: UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange cloth lettered in black. Precedence: the UK Collins Crime Club first (6 November 1939), under the original title, is the true world first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange cloth lettered in black
- The copyright page is dated 1939 with no later-impression statement; a first-issue priced dust jacket (price present at the flap) under the original title confirms the earliest issue
- Jacketed copies are extremely scarce
- Publisher imprint reads Collins Crime Club
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Year | 1939 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange cloth lettered in black. The copyright page is dated 1939 with no later-impression statement; a first-issue priced dust jacket (price present at the flap) under the original title confirms the earliest issue. Jacketed copies are extremely scarce.

## Is this the true first?
Precedence: the UK Collins Crime Club first (6 November 1939), under the original title, is the true world first. The US Dodd, Mead first followed in January 1940 (264 pp) and introduced the enduring title 'And Then There Were None,' taken from the last line of the American form of the counting rhyme (US later editions and the stage version also used 'Ten Little Indians'). Both the UK 1939 and US 1940 firsts are collected; the UK precedes.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The US Dodd, Mead first and all later editions use 'And Then There Were None' (or 'Ten Little Indians'), never the original UK title. Later Collins printings state the impression. Confirm a UK first by the 1939 Collins Crime Club imprint and the absence of any impression notice.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *And Then There Were None* by Agatha Christie a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/and-then-there-were-none
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.