# Is "Girl Meets Boy" by Ali Smith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith (Canongate, 2007) is identified by: First UK Canongate hardback, Edinburgh, dated 1 November 2007, part of the Canongate Myths series; cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine under a priced dust jacket. The UK Canongate hardback of 2007 is the true first, a modern retelling of Ovid's myth of Iphis.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First UK Canongate hardback, Edinburgh, dated 1 November 2007, part of the Canongate Myths series; cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine under a priced dust jacket
- The first-edition cover reproduces a Tracey Emin drawing titled Self-portrait as a Small Bird, and the first issue carries a jacket blurb quote from Joyce Carol Oates
- ISBN 9781841958699
- Publisher imprint reads Canongate
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ali Smith |
| Publisher | Canongate |
| Year | 2007 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First UK Canongate hardback, Edinburgh, dated 1 November 2007, part of the Canongate Myths series; cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First UK Canongate hardback, Edinburgh, dated 1 November 2007, part of the Canongate Myths series; cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine under a priced dust jacket. The first-edition cover reproduces a Tracey Emin drawing titled Self-portrait as a Small Bird, and the first issue carries a jacket blurb quote from Joyce Carol Oates. ISBN 9781841958699.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Canongate hardback of 2007 is the true first, a modern retelling of Ovid's myth of Iphis. Canongate distributed the title in the US under its own imprint the same year.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Reprints and later impressions state the impression number on the copyright page; a later Canongate paperback reissue (ISBN 9781786892478) is a separate, subsequent format.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Girl Meets Boy* by Ali Smith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/girl-meets-boy
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.