Is My Funeral in Berlin a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Cape firsts state "First published 1964" on the copyright page with no later impression line
• Cape noted subsequent printings there, so any added impression statement rules out a first
• Bound in publisher's black cloth, gilt titling to the spine, with a blue/grey rubber-stamp "office" motif and a blind-blocked "downgraded to unclassified" box to the upper board
• The endpapers are the decisive point: black-and-white reproductions of official SS membership lists set in German blackletter, the first name on the list being Heinrich Himmler; later editions do not reproduce these endpapers
• Photographic dust jacket designed by Raymond Hawkey — monochrome, discreet typography, a photographic rather than drawn illustration, which broke with book-trade convention of the period
• Priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap on the trade issue; surviving jackets are frequently price-clipped

How Jonathan Cape marked a first edition

• First printings state "First published [Year]" or "First published in Great Britain [Year]" on the copyright page with NO additional impression lines and traditionally NO number line
• Later printings noted by added lines (e.g. 'Second impression [year]', 'Reprinted...') — their presence disqualifies a first

Full Jonathan Cape first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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 UK edition is the true first: Jonathan Cape, London, 17 September 1964. The first American edition followed from G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1965, and is collected in its own right, but it is a first American edition only — the Cape printing precedes it by roughly a year. The two are physically unmistakable: the Putnam book has white boards with a black spine and silver lettering, red endpapers, and a grey reproduction of the Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate to the front board echoing its jacket. Note one source defect: the Deighton Dossier dates the Putnam edition to 11 January 1966, but that is the date it also gives for the Putnam Billion-Dollar Brain and appears to be a transcription error; L.W. Currey and multiple independent dealer catalogues date the first US edition to 1965, which is followed here.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Documented reprint tell: the SS-membership-list endpapers were not reproduced after the Cape first, so plain or substituted endpapers indicate a later edition. Because Cape noted subsequent impressions on the copyright page, a stated later impression is decisive on its own. UK book-club reprints (Book Club Associates and similar) are the usual trap and run to the standard signals — lighter boards and bulkier, cheaper paper, no price printed at the jacket flap, and often a small blind-stamp to the rear board.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Funeral in Berlin a first edition?

A first edition of Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton (Jonathan Cape) is identified by: Cape firsts state "First published 1964" on the copyright page with no later impression line; Cape noted subsequent printings there, so any added impression statement rules out a first.

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The UK edition is the true first: Jonathan Cape, London, 17 September 1964.

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

Documented reprint tell: the SS-membership-list endpapers were not reproduced after the Cape first, so plain or substituted endpapers indicate a later edition. Because Cape noted subsequent impressions on the copyright page, a stated later impression is decisive on its own. UK book-club reprints (Book Club Associates and similar) are the usual trap and run to the standard signals — lighter boards and bulkier, cheaper paper, no price printed at the jacket flap, and often a small blind-stamp to th

I have a first edition of Funeral in Berlin — 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.