# Is "Epitaph for a Spy" by Eric Ambler a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler (Hodder & Stoughton, 1938) is identified by: Hodder & Stoughton (London, 1938): the first impression collates 287 plus [1] pages and is bound in the publisher's light blue cloth lettered in black; later impressions are stated on the copyright page. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Hodder & Stoughton (London, 1938): the first impression collates 287 plus [1] pages and is bound in the publisher's light blue cloth lettered in black; later impressions are stated on the copyright page
- The title is scarce in the dust jacket, and jacketed copies should be examined with corresponding care
- Knopf (New York, 1952): stated on the copyright page as the first Borzoi edition, collating 259 plus [5] pages, bound in patterned paper boards with a paper spine label lettered in black and the top edge stained red; the jacket carries art by Bill English with the price present at the flap
- The Knopf sets the text with a new footnote, or afterword, that Ambler wrote in 1951 and which appears nowhere in the 1938 sheets — its presence identifies the American setting immediately
- Publisher imprint reads Hodder & Stoughton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Eric Ambler |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Hodder & Stoughton (London, 1938): the first impression collates 287 plus [1] pages and is bound in the publisher's light blue cloth… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Hodder & Stoughton (London, 1938): the first impression collates 287 plus [1] pages and is bound in the publisher's light blue cloth lettered in black; later impressions are stated on the copyright page. The title is scarce in the dust jacket, and jacketed copies should be examined with corresponding care. Knopf (New York, 1952): stated on the copyright page as the first Borzoi edition, collating 259 plus [5] pages, bound in patterned paper boards with a paper spine label lettered in black and the top edge stained red; the jacket carries art by Bill English with the price present at the flap. The Knopf sets the text with a new footnote, or afterword, that Ambler wrote in 1951 and which appears nowhere in the 1938 sheets — its presence identifies the American setting immediately.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. Hodder & Stoughton (London) 1938 is the true first edition of Ambler's third novel; there was no American edition until Knopf published it in New York in 1952, fourteen years later. The Knopf 1952 is the first American edition and a legitimate collecting target as the first appearance of Ambler's 1951 authorial footnote, but it is a first thus and no substitute for the 1938 first. One scholarly source reports the 1938 text was revised for the 1952 Knopf; the footnote is well documented across dealer catalogues, but the extent of any textual revision is not corroborated in the sources consulted and should not be stated as fact.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Hodder later impressions carry an impression statement on the copyright page. The recurring trap is the Knopf 1952 and the later Penguin and Vintage Crime/Black Lizard reissues being catalogued or offered as first editions of the novel; all are firsts thus at best. Note also that several dealers describe this as Ambler's debut — it is not, The Dark Frontier (1936) preceding it, and that error in a description is a fair signal to scrutinise the rest of it. No book-club issue of either the Hodder or the Knopf is documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Epitaph for a Spy* by Eric Ambler a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/epitaph-for-a-spy
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.