# Is "In the Shadow of Man" by Jane van Lawick-Goodall a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of In the Shadow of Man by Jane van Lawick-Goodall (Collins, 1971) is identified by: True first is Collins, St James's Place, London, 1971 (published under the author's married name, Jane van Lawick-Goodall). UK true first: Collins (London), 1971 is the originating edition and is collected as the true first; the US edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston), 1971, is a same-year 'first American edition' that is also collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is Collins, St James's Place, London, 1971 (published under the author's married name, Jane van Lawick-Goodall)
- Bound in green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (a minority of dealers describe the cloth as grey with green/black lettering, but green is the consensus) and a chimpanzee vignette to the front board; illustrated endpapers, with 24 black-and-white plates and 8 colour plates from photographs by Hugo van Lawick
- A first printing shows the 'First published 1971' statement on the verso with no later-impression or 'reprinted' line (dealers cite McBride for the Collins first-printing designation), and it was issued in a priced dust jacket (price present at the flap)
- Publisher imprint reads Collins
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jane van Lawick-Goodall |
| Publisher | Collins |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is Collins, St James's Place, London, 1971 (published under the author's married name, Jane van Lawick-Goodall) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first is Collins, St James's Place, London, 1971 (published under the author's married name, Jane van Lawick-Goodall). Bound in green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (a minority of dealers describe the cloth as grey with green/black lettering, but green is the consensus) and a chimpanzee vignette to the front board; illustrated endpapers, with 24 black-and-white plates and 8 colour plates from photographs by Hugo van Lawick. A first printing shows the 'First published 1971' statement on the verso with no later-impression or 'reprinted' line (dealers cite McBride for the Collins first-printing designation), and it was issued in a priced dust jacket (price present at the flap).

## Is this the true first?
UK true first: Collins (London), 1971 is the originating edition and is collected as the true first; the US edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston), 1971, is a same-year 'first American edition' that is also collected. Both appeared in 1971 and no source consulted documents an exact month precedence, but the trade uniformly treats Collins as the first and Houghton Mifflin as the American issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club edition exists (US). Standard book-club tells apply: a blind-stamp/blindstamp dot to the rear board, an unpriced jacket flap, and/or 'Book Club Edition' printed on the jacket. Later Collins impressions carry reprint statements on the verso.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *In the Shadow of Man* by Jane van Lawick-Goodall a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/in-the-shadow-of-man
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.