Is My Look, Stranger! a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: Faber & Faber, London, 1936 — Bloomfield & Mendelson A13, the standard citation, cited independently by multiple ABAA/ILAB dealers
• Octavo, 68 pages, containing thirty-one poems opening with a "Prologue" ("O Love the interest itself in thoughtless heaven") and closing with an "Epilogue" ("Certainly our city")
• Binding is publisher's grey, lettered in gilt on the spine; dealers split on whether to call it grey cloth or grey boards, so treat the colour and gilt spine as the point and the substrate description as dealer variance
• The dust jacket is yellow paper printed in pink and black — an unusually specific and checkable jacket point for a Faber book of this period, and the jacket should be present and unclipped, with the price present at the flap
• Faber of this era carried no number line: the verso gives the first-publication statement alone on the first impression, and later impressions add an impression line
• A second British impression followed in December 1936 and is so designated on the verso; a copy whose verso names any impression after the first is not the first printing

How Faber & Faber, London marked a first edition

• First printings state "First published in [Year]" (often "First published in mcmxxxx") on the copyright/verso page, with no list of later impressions
• Prior to 1968 the year was set in ROMAN NUMERALS (e.g. 'First published in mcmliv'); from 1968 onward Arabic numerals were used — a key dating tell

Full Faber & Faber, London 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK 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?

UK first, and both editions are collected under their different titles — the census claim is confirmed in full. Faber issued the book in London in 1936 as Look, Stranger!, a title chosen by the publisher while Auden was in Iceland and unreachable, and which he disliked ("It sounds like the work of a vegetarian lady novelist"); he had proposed Thirty-One Poems. The American edition followed from Random House, New York, 1937, under Auden's own preferred title On This Island — Bloomfield & Mendelson A13b — in brown boards lettered in gilt on the front panel and spine, octavo, 68 pages. Same thirty-one poems, same Prologue/Epilogue structure; the two are the same book under two titles, with the London 1936 Faber issue holding priority. Collectors who want the author-sanctioned title need the New York 1937 book, which does not displace the UK first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for either the Faber or the Random House edition. The reprint tells are the Faber impressions (second British impression December 1936, and later impressions, each so stated on the verso) and the modern Faber reprint of 2001, which carries the Look, Stranger! title and can mislead on a spine glance. The other standing trap is cataloguing confusion in the other direction: because the American title is On This Island, dealer records and library catalogues file the same work under both titles, and On This Island (Random House 1937) is regularly offered as though it were the first edition of the collection when it is the first American edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Look, Stranger! a first edition?

A first edition of Look, Stranger! by W. H. Auden (Faber & Faber, London) is identified by: First edition: Faber & Faber, London, 1936 — Bloomfield & Mendelson A13, the standard citation, cited independently by multiple ABAA/ILAB dealers.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). UK first, and both editions are collected under their different titles — the census claim is confirmed in full.

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

No book-club issue is documented for either the Faber or the Random House edition. The reprint tells are the Faber impressions (second British impression December 1936, and later impressions, each so stated on the verso) and the modern Faber reprint of 2001, which carries the Look, Stranger! title and can mislead on a spine glance. The other standing trap is cataloguing confusion in the other direction: because the American title is On This Island, dealer records and library catalogues file the

I have a first edition of Look, Stranger! — 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.