# Is "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Lost Horizon by James Hilton (Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1933) is identified by: First printing: Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933, octavo, in original green cloth with the spine panel stamped in gold. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933 is the true first and the edition collectors prefer.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing: Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933, octavo, in original green cloth with the spine panel stamped in gold
- Collation [1-4] 1-281 [282: blank] [283-284: ads] — i.e. a two-page publisher's catalogue at the rear
- The controlling point is that the first impression carries NO statement of printing on the copyright page; later Macmillan printings add an impression line ('Second impression', etc.)
- Issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the front-flap verso; unclipped jackets are genuinely scarce because the London first printing was small
- LW Currey's bibliographic description and an ABA/ILAB dealer description agree independently on the green cloth, gilt spine stamping, ~281 pp. plus rear ads, and the absence of a printing statement
- No first-issue state, priority binding or first-state text error is recorded for the London edition
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co., Limited

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Hilton |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co., Limited |
| Year | 1933 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing: Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933, octavo, in original green cloth with the spine panel stamped in gold |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing: Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933, octavo, in original green cloth with the spine panel stamped in gold. Collation [1-4] 1-281 [282: blank] [283-284: ads] — i.e. a two-page publisher's catalogue at the rear. The controlling point is that the first impression carries NO statement of printing on the copyright page; later Macmillan printings add an impression line ('Second impression', etc.). Issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the front-flap verso; unclipped jackets are genuinely scarce because the London first printing was small. LW Currey's bibliographic description and an ABA/ILAB dealer description agree independently on the green cloth, gilt spine stamping, ~281 pp. plus rear ads, and the absence of a printing statement. No first-issue state, priority binding or first-state text error is recorded for the London edition.

## Is this the true first?
Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1933 is the true first and the edition collectors prefer. William Morrow & Company, New York, 1933 is the first American edition — octavo, 277 pp., blind-stamped black boards with gilt lettering to the spine, identified by the 1933 date on the title and copyright pages with no additional printings noted (McBride is the standard reference for Morrow points). Both are collected, and fine Morrow copies are sought. Precedence should be stated with care: the two appeared in the same autumn, and at least one dealer account describes the arrangement as a simultaneous publication on 26 September 1933 rather than a London-then-New-York sequence. What is settled and can be published: the London Macmillan is the priority/preferred edition, and Morrow made small last-minute 'Americanizing' textual changes, so the two texts differ in minor but real respects.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Lost Horizon's enormous reprint afterlife is the trap, and none of it is a first. Grosset & Dunlap issued a First Photoplay Edition (tied to Frank Capra's 1937 film), and in 1939 the novel became Pocket Book No. 1, the launch title of American mass-market paperback publishing — famous, but a reprint. Reader's Club and other reprint-house issues follow. Any copy bearing a Grosset & Dunlap or Pocket Books imprint, or a photoplay/film jacket, is a reprint regardless of the 1933 copyright date carried over onto its copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Lost Horizon* by James Hilton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/lost-horizon
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.