Iris Murdoch First Editions

• Sartre: Romantic Rationalist — 1953 · Bowes & BowesMurdoch's first book and the first book-length study of Sartre in English, issued in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought series (general editor Erich Heller). The true first is Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1953: a slim 12mo of 78 pp in red cloth with gilt spine lettering and a red top-stain. A first issue carries the Bowes & Bowes imprint on the title/copyright leaf with no later-printing…. UK Bowes & Bowes (Cambridge) 1953 is the originating edition and the collected true first. Yale University Press (New Haven) issued the first American edition in the SAME year, 1953 — a separately collected issue that does not have priority over the British printing. Both are dated 1953, so distinguish by the imprint on the title and copyright leaf. No notable period book-club edition; later paperback and reprint issues (and subsequent Yale printings) are 'first thus,' not the 1953 first.
• Under the Net — 1954 · Chatto & WindusChatto & Windus, London, 1954 — Murdoch's first novel. Bound in original light green cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, octavo. Original pictorial dust jacket designed by Victor Ross, with the printed price at the foot of the front flap (present, unclipped-agnostic). The scarce first state carries a thirteen-line blurb on the half-title that was removed at the author's request; its presence is a key…. Chatto & Windus, London, 1954 is the true first; Viking, New York, 1954 is the first US edition. As her debut it is the cornerstone Murdoch title, distinguished from the US issue by the Chatto imprint, green cloth, and the Victor Ross jacket with sterling price. Later impressions are noted on the verso. The US Viking edition is distinguished by imprint, binding, and a dollar-priced jacket rather than the sterling-priced London jacket.
• The Flight from the Enchanter — 1956 · Chatto & WindusTrue first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1956 — Murdoch's second novel — 316 pp., first impression, with no printing/number line (the first impression carries the 1956 Chatto & Windus imprint and no later-impression statement). Bound in publisher's cloth lettered in gilt on the spine; dealers describe most first-issue copies as brown cloth, though blue-boarded examples are also reported, so treat binding…. The London Chatto & Windus 1956 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1956), which is secondary. English original — no translation-precedence question. Later Reprint Society/World Books and Penguin issues are reprints. The Edward Bawden jacket is specific to the Chatto first; a later book-club jacket married onto 1956 sheets is a made-up copy, so confirm the jacket matches the first.
• The Sandcastle — 1957 · Chatto & WindusTrue first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1957 — Murdoch's third novel — 286 pp., first impression. Bound in original green cloth/boards lettered in gilt on the spine; the first impression carries the 1957 Chatto & Windus imprint with no later-impression statement (no number line). The dust jacket was designed by Charles Mozley and should be present and unclipped (price present at the spine) on a…. The London Chatto & Windus 1957 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1957), which is secondary. English original. Book-club tell: the Reprint Society / World Books edition (London, 1959) is quarter-bound in cream with wine/maroon boards and carries a different jacket; it is frequently mis-offered as the first. Any copy in that binding, or wearing a World Books/Reprint Society jacket over Chatto sheets, is not the true first.
• The Bell — 1958 · Chatto & WindusLondon: Chatto & Windus, 1958 (Murdoch's fourth novel). Green cloth boards with gilt spine lettering; first-issue dust jacket designed by Charles Mozley and with its printed price on the front flap. First edition, first impression. UK Chatto & Windus (1958) precedes the US Viking edition (also 1958). Later impressions add printing statements. Confirm a first by the printed price jacket price (unclipped) and the absence of any later impression line.
• A Severed Head — 1961 · Chatto & WindusLondon: Chatto & Windus, 1961 (Murdoch's fifth novel). Brown cloth/boards with gilt spine lettering; first-issue dust jacket designed by John Woodcock and with its printed price on the flap. First edition, first impression. UK Chatto & Windus (1961) precedes the US Viking Press edition (also 1961). The Viking issue is distinct (quarter white cloth over red boards, the printed price jacket by Bill English). Later impressions add printing statements. Confirm a first by the printed price jacket price (unclipped) and absence of any later impression line.
• The Nice and the Good — 1968 · Chatto & WindusTrue first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1968, 350 pp. ([6], 7-350, [2]), first impression. Bound in brown paper-covered boards lettered in gilt on the spine, with a brown top-stain and white endpapers. The dust jacket was designed by John Ward and should be present and unclipped (price present, marked 'net', at the spine) on a first-issue copy; some copies carry a black 'Book Society Choice' wrap-around…. The London Chatto & Windus 1968 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1968), which is secondary. English original. No separate book-club edition was identified; the 'Book Society Choice' band is issued with the Chatto trade first and is not itself a book-club edition. Later Chatto, Penguin and Triad printings are reprints.
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat — 1970 · Chatto & WindusTrue first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1970, first impression, carrying SBN 7011 1534 0. Bound in light/sage-green cloth-covered boards, gilt-lettered on the spine and blank on the front board. The dust jacket was designed by John Sergeant — a colour wrap-around composition — and should be present and unclipped (price present at the flap) on a first-issue copy. First impression is identified by the 1970…. The London Chatto & Windus 1970 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1970; US ISBN 0-670-30533-2), which is secondary. English original. A first Canadian edition and the US Viking issue both appeared and are secondary to the Chatto first. Later Penguin/Triad paperbacks are reprints; confirm the John Sergeant jacket and the SBN 7011 1534 0 to separate the first from reprints.
• The Black Prince — 1973 · Chatto & WindusFirst edition, Chatto & Windus, London, 1973; xviii, 364 pp.; ISBN 0 7011 1924 1 (OCLC 641302; LCCN 73-160017). Bound in purple cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Christopher Cornford — the Cornford jacket is the single most useful check on a UK copy, and multiple independent dealers describe the pairing of purple cloth with the Cornford jacket consistently. British trade practice…. The Chatto & Windus London edition of 1973 precedes the New York issue and is the true first; the census claim is confirmed. UK publication was in February 1973, ahead of the Viking Press (New York) first American edition of the same year — xviii, 366 pp., ISBN 0 670 17286 3, LCCN 72-091828 — which is bound in yellow and orange boards with purple floral decoration in a pictorial jacket and is a different setting…. No book-club edition of the 1973 Chatto issue was documented in this pass. The reprint tells that matter are format tells: the Penguin paperback (1975 and later) and the Vintage / Chatto later settings are reprints, and any copy carrying a later ISBN or a post-1973 date is not the first. Because the Viking (New York) sheets are a separate American setting, a Viking copy is never the true first however it is….
• The Sea, the Sea — 1978 · Chatto & WindusFirst printing of Murdoch's Booker Prize-winning nineteenth novel, 502 pages, in publisher's green cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine. The first-state dust jacket reproduces a Hokusai wave image (after 'The Hollow of the Deep-Sea Wave off Kanagawa') and carries the publisher's printed price on the flap; confirm the printed price is present rather than citing any amount. UK first precedes the US Viking…. Chatto & Windus, London, 1978 is the true first; Viking, New York, 1978 is the first US edition. Later impressions are stated on the copyright page; book-club and US editions are distinguished by imprint and jacket. The priority copy is the London Chatto & Windus first in green cloth with the Hokusai-wave jacket.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Irma S. Rombauer, Irwin Shaw, Isaac Asimov, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Ishmael Reed, J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

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