Is My Murphy a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, George Routledge & Sons, London, 1938 (Federman & Fletcher 25)
• Octavo, 282 pp. plus 4 pp. of advertisements; the title page is dated 1938 with no number line
• The decisive point is the cloth: first-issue copies are bound in smooth green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, while the unsold balance was bound up in coarse, rough-textured green cloth and released as a "cheap edition" in 1942 — the same sheets in a later binding
• Cloth texture, not colour, separates them
• The dust jacket is very rare and absent from most surviving copies
• Print-run figures conflict across sources and are not settled here: dealers citing Federman & Fletcher 25 give 1,500 copies printed with 718 in the first-issue binding, while other dealer descriptions give 1,250 printed with only about 350 in the smooth first-issue cloth and nearly 900 remaindered in the coarse second binding

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

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 American 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?

The census claim is confirmed: the English original, Routledge, London, 1938, is the true first. Beckett's own French translation — made with unacknowledged assistance from Alfred Péron — followed from Éditions Bordas, Paris, 1947, as the first volume in the "Les Imaginaires" series, and the first American edition is Grove Press, New York, 1957. There is no competing English-language edition before 1957, so precedence is not contested.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented. The reprint tell is the 1942 Routledge "cheap edition" — first-edition sheets in coarse green cloth, frequently offered as a first edition, which it is, but not in the first-issue binding. A distinct "first thus" trap sits on the French side: at the end of 1953 Les Éditions de Minuit acquired roughly 2,750 unsold Bordas copies and reissued them under their own wrappers in early 1954, so a Minuit-wrappered Murphy is a re-issue of the 1947 Bordas first in French, not a new edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Murphy a first edition?

A first edition of Murphy by Samuel Beckett (George Routledge & Sons) is identified by: First edition, George Routledge & Sons, London, 1938 (Federman & Fletcher 25).

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). The census claim is confirmed: the English original, Routledge, London, 1938, is the true first.

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

No book-club edition is documented. The reprint tell is the 1942 Routledge "cheap edition" — first-edition sheets in coarse green cloth, frequently offered as a first edition, which it is, but not in the first-issue binding. A distinct "first thus" trap sits on the French side: at the end of 1953 Les Éditions de Minuit acquired roughly 2,750 unsold Bordas copies and reissued them under their own wrappers in early 1954, so a Minuit-wrappered Murphy is a re-issue of the 1947 Bordas first in French

I have a first edition of Murphy — 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.