Is My "Master Harold"...and the boys a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printing is a slim octavo, 60 pp., in cloth with dust jacket (ISBN 0394528743), issued as "A Borzoi Book," distributed by Random House
• Knopf house practice since 1933-34 is that the first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page with the Borzoi device; in the number-line era the descending printer's key accompanies the words rather than replacing them, so a 1982 Knopf first shows both the stated line and a number line running down to 1 — a copy lacking the stated "FIRST EDITION" line is a later printing or a club copy
• Dealer listings additionally report a red top stain and a dust jacket designed by Robert Anthony; both are plausible and repeatedly reported but were not independently corroborated in the catalogues consulted, so treat them as supporting rather than decisive
• Priced jacket / price present at the flap on unclipped trade copies

How Alfred A. Knopf marked a first edition

• c.1970s onward (number-line era, added ALONGSIDE the words — it did not replace them): later Knopf firsts also carry a descending numeric printer's key (often with a manufacturing/printer code). A first printing shows th…

Full Alfred A. Knopf 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 US 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?

US true first: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1982 — the census claim is confirmed. The play premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in March 1982 and reached Broadway in May 1982, and the Knopf hardcover is the first book publication; no earlier South African edition was located in the sources consulted (a negative finding limited by those sources). The UK Oxford University Press edition of 1983 (ISBN 0192813943) followed, and is catalogued as an Oxford paperback rather than a competing hardcover first — so Knopf 1982 is unambiguously the edition to collect and there is no UK/US split here. First-thus trap: the Samuel French acting edition and the Vintage International reissue (ISBN 9780307475206) are later publications.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A Knopf-dated 1982 book club edition circulates and is documented by Rare Book Cellar and by an Open Library record explicitly designating "Book Club edition" (catalogued at 61 pp. plus 4 pp. of plates against the trade first's 60 pp.). Dealers distinguish trade copies by the price present at the jacket flap and by the stated first-edition line — one listing explicitly warrants its copy as "NOT a BOMC edition." Caution documented in Knopf's own identification guidance: Knopf frequently blind-stamps its Borzoi logo on the rear board of trade copies, and this must not be mistaken for a book-club deboss.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of "Master Harold"...and the boys a first edition?

A first edition of "Master Harold"...and the boys by Athol Fugard (Alfred A. Knopf) is identified by: First printing is a slim octavo, 60 pp., in cloth with dust jacket (ISBN 0394528743), issued as "A Borzoi Book," distributed by Random House.

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). US true first: Alfred A.

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

A Knopf-dated 1982 book club edition circulates and is documented by Rare Book Cellar and by an Open Library record explicitly designating "Book Club edition" (catalogued at 61 pp. plus 4 pp. of plates against the trade first's 60 pp.). Dealers distinguish trade copies by the price present at the jacket flap and by the stated first-edition line — one listing explicitly warrants its copy as "NOT a BOMC edition." Caution documented in Knopf's own identification guidance: Knopf frequently blind-sta

I have a first edition of "Master Harold"...and the boys — 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.