# Is "Cider with Rosie" by Laurie Lee a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee (The Hogarth Press, 1959) is identified by: The true first is The Hogarth Press (London), 1959, in green boards with a dust jacket and text illustrations by John Ward. UK first, with a US title-change trap: The Hogarth Press, London (1959) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is The Hogarth Press (London), 1959, in green boards with a dust jacket and text illustrations by John Ward
- The first-issue point is the libellous passage referring to 'a fire at the piano-works almost every year' at page 272, present in the first printing and amended or deleted in later impressions after Lee settled a libel action (heard in the High Court, 18 July 1960)
- Identify by the Hogarth imprint, the 1959 date, and the presence of the original page-272 wording
- Publisher imprint reads The Hogarth Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Laurie Lee |
| Publisher | The Hogarth Press |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is The Hogarth Press (London), 1959, in green boards with a dust jacket and text illustrations by John Ward |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first is The Hogarth Press (London), 1959, in green boards with a dust jacket and text illustrations by John Ward. The first-issue point is the libellous passage referring to 'a fire at the piano-works almost every year' at page 272, present in the first printing and amended or deleted in later impressions after Lee settled a libel action (heard in the High Court, 18 July 1960). Identify by the Hogarth imprint, the 1959 date, and the presence of the original page-272 wording.

## Is this the true first?
UK first, with a US title-change trap: The Hogarth Press, London (1959) is the true first. The American edition was retitled 'The Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England' (William Morrow, New York, 1960) — the same work under a different title, not a separate book, and a classic retitling trap.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Hogarth impressions carry the page-272 libel passage removed or reworded; presence of the original wording distinguishes the first issue from corrected reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Cider with Rosie* by Laurie Lee a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/cider-with-rosie
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.