Is My Horse Under Water a First Edition?

The points of issue

• CENSUS DETAIL CORRECTED — the famous crossword is on the ENDPAPERS, not the dust jacket
• The first impression has pictorial crossword endpapers, the grid on the left-hand leaf and the clues largely on the right, repeated at both front and back; later impressions substitute plain black endpapers
• The true first was also issued with a loosely inserted blank crossword slip, the clues for which are the ones printed on the endpapers: readers were invited to complete it and post it in for a book-token prize in a competition running from publication day, Monday 21 October, to Thursday 31 October 1963
• Most slips were duly posted in, so surviving copies retaining the insert are very rare and the insert's absence is not itself evidence against a first
• The dust jacket was designed by Raymond Hawkey, with the price present at the flap; the jacket of the proof differs, carrying a photograph of Deighton at HMS Vernon on the front flap

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

Census claim on precedence confirmed, the jacket detail corrected as above. Jonathan Cape (London), published 21 October 1963, is the true first; there was no American edition until G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York) issued it in 1968, stated as the first American edition. One genuine complication must be recorded rather than smoothed over: roughly 500 copies were sent out ahead of publication to reviewers and trade buyers with plain black endpapers, deliberately, so as not to pre-empt the crossword competition, and at least some of those copies physically preceded the first impression. Plain black endpapers therefore cover two quite different things — pre-publication review and trade copies, and ordinary later impressions — and black-endpapered copies carry no "second impression" statement on the copyright page to tell them apart. The state collected as the true first is the crossword-endpaper copy.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Cape impressions have plain black endpapers and are stated on the copyright page. Many sellers omit the endpaper point entirely and a number of copies are offered as true firsts on the strength of the Cape imprint and 1963 date alone; some go further and assert the plain black endpaper copy is the true first. Treat any description that does not address the endpapers as unverified. The Putnam 1968 is the first American, not the first. The later Penguin paperback prints a longer text with material added beyond the Cape first — a text-state trap, and a first thus at most.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Horse Under Water a first edition?

A first edition of Horse Under Water by Len Deighton (Jonathan Cape) is identified by: CENSUS DETAIL CORRECTED — the famous crossword is on the ENDPAPERS, not the dust jacket.

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. Census claim on precedence confirmed, the jacket detail corrected as above.

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

Later Cape impressions have plain black endpapers and are stated on the copyright page. Many sellers omit the endpaper point entirely and a number of copies are offered as true firsts on the strength of the Cape imprint and 1963 date alone; some go further and assert the plain black endpaper copy is the true first. Treat any description that does not address the endpapers as unverified. The Putnam 1968 is the first American, not the first. The later Penguin paperback prints a longer text with ma

I have a first edition of Horse Under Water — 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.