2 Nancy Mitford first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Pursuit of Love (1945) to Love in a Cold Climate (1949). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Nancy Mitford title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.

Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Nancy Mitford copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Pursuit of Love — 1945 · Hamish HamiltonFirst edition, first impression: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 (published December 1945). Bound in the publisher's blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, in the pictorial dust wrapper illustrated by Roger Furse — binding and jacket artist are corroborated by three independent dealers. Printed on poor wartime paper stock, so foxing and light toning of the text block are normal on genuine first impressions. On…. True first is Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 — the census claim is confirmed. The first American edition is Random House, New York, 1946 (copyright 1945), in a dust jacket illustrated by Albert Jousset; it was the first Mitford title published in America and is collected in its own right, but it follows the London edition. Both are collected: Hamish Hamilton 1945 is the true first, Random House 1946 the first…. The Reprint Society (London) issued the title in 1947 — a book-club reprint, not the first, and identifiable by that imprint on the title page. Dealers also record a Hamish Hamilton second impression dated 1946. With roughly 200,000 copies sold in the first year, early reprints are far commoner than first impressions, so the verso statement rather than the 1945 title-page year is what settles a copy.
Love in a Cold Climate — 1949 · Hamish HamiltonFirst edition, first printing published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1949, in the publisher's original red cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (8vo, 304 pp.). Issued in a pictorial dust jacket; the first-issue jacket is unclipped with the price present at the front flap. The title/copyright leaf bears the Hamish Hamilton 1949 imprint with no later-impression statement; the red cloth and gilt spine are…. UK Hamish Hamilton (London) 1949 is the true first and holds priority over the US Random House (New York) 1949 issue, which followed. Both the London first and the Random House American edition are collected; London has precedence, so the Hamish Hamilton printing is the one to seek as the true first. Later Hamish Hamilton impressions and a Reprint Society/Book Club issue exist; a book-club copy typically lacks the price at the flap and may carry a Reprint Society or 'Book Club' notice on the jacket or copyright page. Confirm the 1949 Hamish Hamilton imprint and the absence of any later-impression line.

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