# Is "Funeral in Berlin" by Len Deighton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton (Jonathan Cape, 1964) 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. The UK edition is the true first: Jonathan Cape, London, 17 September 1964.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Jonathan Cape

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Len Deighton |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Cape firsts state "First published 1964" on the copyright page with no later impression line |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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. Octavo, 320pp. A scarce variant is bound in black "Excelin" cloth-effect paper without the front-board blocking and lettered in gilt to the spine; dealers citing Jon Gilbert describe it as possibly a trial or conceivably a second state. Its status is unresolved, so treat it as a documented variant rather than a first-issue point.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Funeral in Berlin* by Len Deighton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/funeral-in-berlin
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.