# Is "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton (Constable & Co., 1941) is identified by: True first: London, Constable & Co., 1941, one volume, octavo, in original olive / olive-green cloth; the text (356 pp.) is followed by two leaves (2 pp.) of publisher's advertisements. The Constable London 1941 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: London, Constable & Co., 1941, one volume, octavo, in original olive / olive-green cloth; the text (356 pp.) is followed by two leaves (2 pp.) of publisher's advertisements
- No number line or edition statement (period Constable) — identify by the 1941 Constable title page and the terminal ads
- The original dust jacket is scarce; a first-issue jacket is a priced jacket with the price present (unclipped) at the front flap
- Olive cloth, terminal ads and the scarce priced jacket are corroborated across two independent dealer catalogues
- Publisher imprint reads Constable & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Patrick Hamilton |
| Publisher | Constable & Co. |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: London, Constable & Co., 1941, one volume, octavo, in original olive / olive-green cloth; the text (356 pp.) is followed by two… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first: London, Constable & Co., 1941, one volume, octavo, in original olive / olive-green cloth; the text (356 pp.) is followed by two leaves (2 pp.) of publisher's advertisements. No number line or edition statement (period Constable) — identify by the 1941 Constable title page and the terminal ads. The original dust jacket is scarce; a first-issue jacket is a priced jacket with the price present (unclipped) at the front flap. Olive cloth, terminal ads and the scarce priced jacket are corroborated across two independent dealer catalogues.

## Is this the true first?
The Constable London 1941 edition is the true first. The first American edition followed from Random House, New York, in 1942, retitled 'Hangover Square, or the Man with Two Minds' — a single volume in grey cloth stamped in black and silver, about 308 pp.; it is the first American only, and its altered title and different collation make it easy to separate from the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No British book-club issue documented for the 1941 first. Later Constable reprints, the 1942 Random House US edition, and modern reissues (Penguin, Abacus, NYRB) are all later 'first thus.'

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Hangover Square* by Patrick Hamilton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/hangover-square
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.