# Is "Deep Water" by Patricia Highsmith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith (Harper & Brothers, 1957) is identified by: The first printing is identified by the Harper & Brothers two-letter code on the copyright page, which must read "H-G". Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is identified by the Harper & Brothers two-letter code on the copyright page, which must read "H-G"
- Under the Harper code system in use from 1912, the first letter is the month and the second the year: G is 1957 and H is the eighth month, so "H-G" denotes an August 1957 printing, consistent with the 1957 title-page date
- Any later code letter in the year position marks a reprint
- The book is bound in buckram-backed cloth, in a dust jacket designed by Polly Cameron with the price present at the front flap
- Darkening to the endpapers is common to this title and is a characteristic of the paper stock rather than a defect or a sign of a later state
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1957 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is identified by the Harper & Brothers two-letter code on the copyright page, which must read "H-G" |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first printing is identified by the Harper & Brothers two-letter code on the copyright page, which must read "H-G". Under the Harper code system in use from 1912, the first letter is the month and the second the year: G is 1957 and H is the eighth month, so "H-G" denotes an August 1957 printing, consistent with the 1957 title-page date. Any later code letter in the year position marks a reprint. The book is bound in buckram-backed cloth, in a dust jacket designed by Polly Cameron with the price present at the front flap. Darkening to the endpapers is common to this title and is a characteristic of the paper stock rather than a defect or a sign of a later state.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. Harper & Brothers (New York) 1957 is the true first edition; the Heinemann (London) edition followed in 1958, so US precedence is not in question here. The Heinemann 1958 is nonetheless collected: it is the first of the sixteen Highsmith novels Heinemann published in Britain and is reported to be the scarcest of the early Highsmith British firsts, Heinemann having underestimated the print run in the wake of The Talented Mr. Ripley.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
For the Harper first, any copyright-page code whose year letter is later than G is a reprint. For the UK Heinemann 1958, the book was reprinted within its year of publication, so the 1958 date alone does not establish a first impression: the same-year reprint carries reviews of Deep Water itself on the back flap of the jacket, which the first impression does not, and the copyright line should be checked in parallel.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Deep Water* by Patricia Highsmith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/deep-water
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.