# Is "Bliss and Other Stories" by Katherine Mansfield a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield (Constable & Co., 1920) is identified by: True first is Constable & Co., London, 1920 (Kirkpatrick A4). Constable (London), 1920, is the true first; the first American edition followed a year later from Alfred A.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is Constable & Co., London, 1920 (Kirkpatrick A4)
- The decisive first-state point is the mispagination of page 13 as '3'; the copyright leaf reads 'First Published 1920' with no reprint or later-impression notice
- Bound in red cloth with the front board ruled/bordered in black; original dust jackets are exceptionally scarce
- Publisher imprint reads Constable & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Katherine Mansfield |
| Publisher | Constable & Co. |
| Year | 1920 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is Constable & Co., London, 1920 (Kirkpatrick A4) |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first is Constable & Co., London, 1920 (Kirkpatrick A4). The decisive first-state point is the mispagination of page 13 as '3'; the copyright leaf reads 'First Published 1920' with no reprint or later-impression notice. Bound in red cloth with the front board ruled/bordered in black; original dust jackets are exceptionally scarce.

## Is this the true first?
Constable (London), 1920, is the true first; the first American edition followed a year later from Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1921, so there is no genuine precedence question. This was Mansfield's second collection, following In a German Pension (1911).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Constable impressions correct the page-13 mispagination and add impression statements; a copy lacking the '13-as-3' error or carrying a reprint notice is not the 1920 first state.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Bliss and Other Stories* by Katherine Mansfield a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/bliss-and-other-stories
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.