# Is "Grey Eminence" by Aldous Huxley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Grey Eminence by Aldous Huxley (Chatto & Windus, 1941) is identified by: First printing of Huxley's biography of Father Joseph (full title Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics), Chatto & Windus, London, 1941. Both the UK Chatto & Windus and the US Harper & Brothers editions are dated 1941; the British edition is generally cited as the first published, with the Harper printing as the first American edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing of Huxley's biography of Father Joseph (full title Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics), Chatto & Windus, London, 1941
- Octavo, 278 pages, issued in publisher's dove-grey cloth boards lettered on the spine in gilt, with eight monochrome plates (a list of seven illustrations plus the frontispiece precedes the text) and rough-cut edges
- A publisher's note on the illustration list records that the author's translations of the French and Latin quotations will be found on page 269
- First-issue copies carry the pictorial dust jacket with the price printed on it (present but any amount unstated); the jacket is often lacking on surviving copies
- Publisher imprint reads Chatto & Windus
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Aldous Huxley |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing of Huxley's biography of Father Joseph (full title Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics), Chatto & Windus… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing of Huxley's biography of Father Joseph (full title Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics), Chatto & Windus, London, 1941. Octavo, 278 pages, issued in publisher's dove-grey cloth boards lettered on the spine in gilt, with eight monochrome plates (a list of seven illustrations plus the frontispiece precedes the text) and rough-cut edges. A publisher's note on the illustration list records that the author's translations of the French and Latin quotations will be found on page 269. First-issue copies carry the pictorial dust jacket with the price printed on it (present but any amount unstated); the jacket is often lacking on surviving copies.

## Is this the true first?
Both the UK Chatto & Windus and the US Harper & Brothers editions are dated 1941; the British edition is generally cited as the first published, with the Harper printing as the first American edition. Exact day-precedence between the two is not crisply documented.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue at first publication.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Grey Eminence* by Aldous Huxley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/grey-eminence
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.