# Is "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" by Siegfried Sassoon a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon (Faber & Gwyer, 1928) is identified by: London: Faber & Gwyer, 1928 — first impression of 1,500 copies, issued 28 September 1928 with no author's name anywhere in the book: title page, spine and jacket all present the work as anonymous, the jacket blurb describing an author who wished for the present to remain anonymous. The London Faber & Gwyer 1928 issue is the true first, confirming the census claim.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: Faber & Gwyer, 1928 — first impression of 1,500 copies, issued 28 September 1928 with no author's name anywhere in the book: title page, spine and jacket all present the work as anonymous, the jacket blurb describing an author who wished for the present to remain anonymous
- That anonymity is the single most reliable point, because Sassoon's name was added during the second impression (after roughly its first 500 copies), so any copy naming him on the title page is not the first impression
- Bound in blue cloth lettered in gilt, top edge stained grey
- Dealers additionally cite an 'A' on the front blank/prelim and two typographic slips — 'merey' for 'merely' at line 1 of p.191, and a dropped 'o' in 'platoon' on the last line of p.365 — but Keynes's bibliography records these irregularities without assigning any priority to them, and ABA/PBFA dealers flatly contradict one another over whether they mark a first or a second issue
- Those misprints should therefore not be used to grade issue; rely on the anonymity and the Faber & Gwyer imprint
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Gwyer
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Siegfried Sassoon |
| Publisher | Faber & Gwyer |
| Year | 1928 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: Faber & Gwyer, 1928 — first impression of 1,500 copies, issued 28 September 1928 with no author's name anywhere in the book: title… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
London: Faber & Gwyer, 1928 — first impression of 1,500 copies, issued 28 September 1928 with no author's name anywhere in the book: title page, spine and jacket all present the work as anonymous, the jacket blurb describing an author who wished for the present to remain anonymous. That anonymity is the single most reliable point, because Sassoon's name was added during the second impression (after roughly its first 500 copies), so any copy naming him on the title page is not the first impression. Bound in blue cloth lettered in gilt, top edge stained grey. Dealers additionally cite an 'A' on the front blank/prelim and two typographic slips — 'merey' for 'merely' at line 1 of p.191, and a dropped 'o' in 'platoon' on the last line of p.365 — but Keynes's bibliography records these irregularities without assigning any priority to them, and ABA/PBFA dealers flatly contradict one another over whether they mark a first or a second issue. Those misprints should therefore not be used to grade issue; rely on the anonymity and the Faber & Gwyer imprint.

## Is this the true first?
The London Faber & Gwyer 1928 issue is the true first, confirming the census claim. The imprint became Faber & Faber in 1929, so a 'Faber & Faber' title page is by definition a later impression or edition, never the first. The first American edition is Coward-McCann, New York, 1929, which carries Sassoon's name and William Nicholson's seven full-page drawings and was printed at the Chiswick Press in London; it is collected in its own right as the first illustrated American appearance, but it does not precede the London edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1929 Faber & Faber edition illustrated by William Nicholson is a first-illustrated 'first thus', not the first edition — a common trap. Later impressions are stated on the verso, and Sassoon's name on the title page marks a copy at earliest from the later part of the second impression. No book-club issue tells for this title were documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man* by Siegfried Sassoon a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/memoirs-of-a-fox-hunting-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.