# Is "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Richard and Florence Atwater (illus. Robert Lawson) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater (illus. Robert Lawson) (Little, Brown and Company, 1938) is identified by: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, September 1938; octavo, 139 pages, illustrated by Robert Lawson with full-page duotone plates and in-text vignettes. US true first — Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1938.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Little, Brown and Company, Boston, September 1938; octavo, 139 pages, illustrated by Robert Lawson with full-page duotone plates and in-text vignettes
- First-printing point: the copyright page states 'Published September 1938' and carries no reprint line
- This follows Little, Brown's 1930s house practice — 'Published [month] [year]' on firsts, subsequent printings noted (Quill & Brush
- ILAB) — and is confirmed by independent dealers quoting the line verbatim (Grendel Books
- Mark Henderson)
- Later printings add a dated reprint statement in the same position: 'Reprinted October 1938' is the second printing, 'Reprinted August 1943' the ninth
- Publisher imprint reads Little, Brown and Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard and Florence Atwater (illus. Robert Lawson) |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Little, Brown and Company, Boston, September 1938; octavo, 139 pages, illustrated by Robert Lawson with full-page duotone plates and… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Little, Brown and Company, Boston, September 1938; octavo, 139 pages, illustrated by Robert Lawson with full-page duotone plates and in-text vignettes. First-printing point: the copyright page states 'Published September 1938' and carries no reprint line. This follows Little, Brown's 1930s house practice — 'Published [month] [year]' on firsts, subsequent printings noted (Quill & Brush; ILAB) — and is confirmed by independent dealers quoting the line verbatim (Grendel Books; Mark Henderson). Later printings add a dated reprint statement in the same position: 'Reprinted October 1938' is the second printing, 'Reprinted August 1943' the ninth. Copyright notice reads to Florence Atwater, Doris Atwater and Carroll Atwater Bishop. Binding: light gray pictorial cloth stamped in blue (title, authors, illustrator and cover image), with blue illustrated endpapers. Jacket: color pictorial — priced jacket, price present at the front flap; the jacket is notoriously fragile at the spine panel. A 1939 Newbery Honor Book.

## Is this the true first?
US true first — Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1938. The first British edition followed from George G. Harrap (London, 1939), in blue cloth; it is collected in the UK but is a first thus and does not carry precedence. Both editions are collected; only the Little, Brown 1938 is the true first. Robert Lawson's own key titles sit apart and have their own firsts: The Story of Ferdinand (Viking, New York, 1936, text by Munro Leaf) and Rabbit Hill (Viking, New York, 1944).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The dominant trap is volume of reprinting: the book ran to the 37th, the printed pricet and 50th printings and beyond, all retaining the 1938 copyright date, which is why copies are routinely advertised as 'first edition, 37th printing.' Read the reprint line, not the date. Jacket copy is a corroborating tell — later jackets carry accumulated review snippets, a higher flap price, and advertise the 1939 Newbery Honor. A widely-circulated student bibliographic page describing a 'Forty-first Printing' copyright page and a the original price jacket is describing a late reprint and should not be treated as a first-edition description.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mr. Popper's Penguins* by Richard and Florence Atwater (illus. Robert Lawson) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mr-poppers-penguins
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.