Is My Curious George a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, with '1941' printed on the title page, which reads 'Curious George / by / H. A. Rey / Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston / 1941'
• The copyright verso of the first printing reads only 'Copyright, 1941, by H. A. Rey / All rights reserved including the right to reproduce the book or parts thereof in any form.' - no printing statement, no number line, and nothing further added beneath the copyright notice
• Quarto, unpaginated, approximately 10 the printed price x 8 the printed price inches, bound in publisher's red (brick red) cloth with a Curious George vignette stamped on the front board showing George reaching for the yellow hat, the spine lettered 'Curious George' with 'H.M.Co.' at the foot
• The first-issue jacket is a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap; the front flap carries the synopsis and the rear flap a short Rey biography plus an advertisement for his stunt book 'How Do You Get There?'
• Because later printings retain the 1941 copyright date, the jacket and the unadorned copyright verso carry the identification; one secondary source reports that later printings add a 'Lithographed in the U.S.A.' line beneath the copyright notice, but that tell is single-source here and should be treated as unconfirmed

How Houghton Mifflin Company marked a first edition

• Merger-lineage window (Hurd & Houghton 1864 → Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1878–1880 → Houghton, Mifflin & Co. from 1880): still no 'First Edition' wording; identify by title-page date matching the copyright date, by the earli…
• Late-19th to mid-20th century (c.1880s–1950s): the operative tell is the title page. Houghton Mifflin almost invariably printed the year of first publication, in Arabic numerals, on the title page of a first printing and…

Full Houghton Mifflin Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The census claim that Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1941 is the true first is upheld - the Reys reached New York in 1940 after fleeing Paris, and Curious George was first published in America in August 1941. Two census details are wrong and are corrected here: the 1939 French precursor was published in Paris as 'Rafi et les 9 singes', with a UK version the same year as 'Raffy and the 9 Monkeys', and in it the monkey is called Fifi; 'Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys' is the 1942 Houghton Mifflin American retitling of that book, not a 1939 French title. The first British edition of Curious George itself appeared as 'Zozo' (Chatto & Windus, London, 1942), the character renamed so as not to associate King George VI with a monkey; it is separately collected as the first UK appearance and was later reissued under the Curious George title with revised text. Margret Rey went uncredited as co-author on early copies.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later printings carry the same 1941 copyright date. Date a suspect copy by the list of Curious George titles on the last page and the rear jacket flap - a list running as far as 'Curious George Flies a Kite', for instance, places a copy circa 1958 or later. Standard mid-century book-club tells apply to the reprints: 'Book Club Edition' at the foot of the front jacket flap, an unpriced jacket, and a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board near the spine. Weekly Reader and Scholastic reprints are common and are not the Houghton Mifflin trade issue.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Curious George a first edition?

A first edition of Curious George by H. A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin Company) is identified by: First edition, first printing: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, with '1941' printed on the title page, which reads 'Curious George / by / H.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The census claim that Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1941 is the true first is upheld - the Reys reached New York in 1940 after fleeing Paris, and Curious George was first published in America in August 1941.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Later printings carry the same 1941 copyright date. Date a suspect copy by the list of Curious George titles on the last page and the rear jacket flap - a list running as far as 'Curious George Flies a Kite', for instance, places a copy circa 1958 or later. Standard mid-century book-club tells apply to the reprints: 'Book Club Edition' at the foot of the front jacket flap, an unpriced jacket, and a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board near the spine. Weekly Reader and Scholastic reprint

I have a first edition of Curious George — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.