# Is "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Collins and Harvill Press, 1958) is identified by: First English edition: prose translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari, with 'The Poems of Yurii Zhivago' at the rear rendered by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. The world first is the Italian Feltrinelli edition (Milan, 15 November 1957; slugged 'prima edizione mondiale in lingua italiana'), which precedes everything.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition: prose translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari, with 'The Poems of Yurii Zhivago' at the rear rendered by Bernard Guilbert Guerney
- The UK Collins & Harvill edition (London, 1958) is customarily cited as the first English: octavo, publisher's red cloth with gilt (and black) spine lettering, 510 pp including the poems, in John Woodcock's block-colour dust jacket with its printed price at the flap
- The first-issue jacket carries the author's photograph on the back panel and NO reference to the Nobel Prize or review blurbs (Pasternak's Nobel came October 1958, after publication)
- The US Pantheon edition (New York, 1958) appeared the same autumn; its copyright page in fact credits Collins & Harvill with the English-translation copyright
- Identify a Pantheon first printing by a copyright page free of any later-impression statement, as the title saw many rapid impressions
- Publisher imprint reads Collins and Harvill Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Boris Pasternak |
| Publisher | Collins and Harvill Press |
| Year | 1958 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition: prose translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari, with 'The Poems of Yurii Zhivago' at the rear rendered by Bernard… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First English edition: prose translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari, with 'The Poems of Yurii Zhivago' at the rear rendered by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. The UK Collins & Harvill edition (London, 1958) is customarily cited as the first English: octavo, publisher's red cloth with gilt (and black) spine lettering, 510 pp including the poems, in John Woodcock's block-colour dust jacket with its printed price at the flap. The first-issue jacket carries the author's photograph on the back panel and NO reference to the Nobel Prize or review blurbs (Pasternak's Nobel came October 1958, after publication). The US Pantheon edition (New York, 1958) appeared the same autumn; its copyright page in fact credits Collins & Harvill with the English-translation copyright. Identify a Pantheon first printing by a copyright page free of any later-impression statement, as the title saw many rapid impressions.

## Is this the true first?
The world first is the Italian Feltrinelli edition (Milan, 15 November 1957; slugged 'prima edizione mondiale in lingua italiana'), which precedes everything. The 1958 Russian-language editions do NOT precede it and are routinely misidentified as firsts: the CIA-sponsored Mouton printing (The Hague, 1958, put out over Feltrinelli's imprint and handed to Soviet visitors at the Brussels World's Fair) and Feltrinelli's own authorised Russian edition (1958-59). A French edition also preceded the English. For the first English, the UK Collins & Harvill 1958 is customarily cited as the first English-language printing; the US Pantheon 1958 followed closely the same year (both autumn 1958).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Many 1958 impressions exist (a twentieth printing and beyond are recorded), so any copyright-page impression statement other than the first marks a reprint. Later jackets add Nobel-Prize wording and review blurbs. US book-club issues lack the flap price and may carry a blind-stamp to the rear board.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Doctor Zhivago* by Boris Pasternak a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/doctor-zhivago
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.