# Is "Borstal Boy" by Brendan Behan a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1958) is identified by: True first: Hutchinson (Hutchinson & Co.), London, 1958, first edition/first printing (Behan's autobiographical book). UK Hutchinson (London) 1958 is the true first and precedes the US first American edition, Alfred A.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: Hutchinson (Hutchinson & Co.), London, 1958, first edition/first printing (Behan's autobiographical book)
- 343 pp with a black-and-white frontispiece portrait of the author; bound in publisher's cloth lettered in silver on the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by B.S. Biro
- Cloth colour is catalogued variously as mauve/purple, with a few describing maroon, so identify primarily by the single 1958 Hutchinson imprint with no later-impression line, the 343-page collation, the frontispiece portrait, and the Biro pictorial jacket rather than by colour alone
- Publisher imprint reads Hutchinson & Co., London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Brendan Behan |
| Publisher | Hutchinson & Co., London |
| Year | 1958 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: Hutchinson (Hutchinson & Co.), London, 1958, first edition/first printing (Behan's autobiographical book) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first: Hutchinson (Hutchinson & Co.), London, 1958, first edition/first printing (Behan's autobiographical book). 343 pp with a black-and-white frontispiece portrait of the author; bound in publisher's cloth lettered in silver on the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by B.S. Biro. Cloth colour is catalogued variously as mauve/purple, with a few describing maroon, so identify primarily by the single 1958 Hutchinson imprint with no later-impression line, the 343-page collation, the frontispiece portrait, and the Biro pictorial jacket rather than by colour alone.

## Is this the true first?
UK Hutchinson (London) 1958 is the true first and precedes the US first American edition, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1959. Written in English; no translation precedence. Banned in the Republic of Ireland from 1958 (ban later lifted). Census claim confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
US first is Knopf, New York, 1959 — a separate first American edition, not a book-club issue. No book-club edition of the Hutchinson first is documented.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Borstal Boy* by Brendan Behan a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/borstal-boy
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.