# Is "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by George Hopley (Cornell Woolrich) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Night Has a Thousand Eyes by George Hopley (Cornell Woolrich) (Farrar & Rinehart, 1945) is identified by: The governing point is the publisher's device: on Farrar & Rinehart first editions the firm's colophon (logo) must be present on the copyright page, and it is absent on subsequent printings — the words "First Edition" were only occasionally used by this house, so absence of a printed statement does not by itself disqualify a copy, but absence of the colophon does. US Farrar & Rinehart (New York, with Toronto on the imprint line) 1945, published under the George Hopley pseudonym, is the true first edition; the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The governing point is the publisher's device: on Farrar & Rinehart first editions the firm's colophon (logo) must be present on the copyright page, and it is absent on subsequent printings — the words "First Edition" were only occasionally used by this house, so absence of a printed statement does not by itself disqualify a copy, but absence of the colophon does
- This colophon rule is documented independently in two standard publisher-identification guides
- The book collates 301 pp., approximately 19.5 cm, bound in woven light blue cloth with the spine title stamped in silver
- The dust jacket was designed by Sol Immerman; a priced jacket with the price present at the inside front flap is the unclipped first-issue state
- No first-state text errors are documented for this title in the sources consulted
- This is a notoriously fragile title — the blue cloth sunned along the spine and board edges, and foxing to the top edge of the text block, are near-universal condition traits, not issue points
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar & Rinehart

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Hopley (Cornell Woolrich) |
| Publisher | Farrar & Rinehart |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The governing point is the publisher's device: on Farrar & Rinehart first editions the firm's colophon (logo) must be present on the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The governing point is the publisher's device: on Farrar & Rinehart first editions the firm's colophon (logo) must be present on the copyright page, and it is absent on subsequent printings — the words "First Edition" were only occasionally used by this house, so absence of a printed statement does not by itself disqualify a copy, but absence of the colophon does. This colophon rule is documented independently in two standard publisher-identification guides. The book collates 301 pp., approximately 19.5 cm, bound in woven light blue cloth with the spine title stamped in silver. The dust jacket was designed by Sol Immerman; a priced jacket with the price present at the inside front flap is the unclipped first-issue state. No first-state text errors are documented for this title in the sources consulted. This is a notoriously fragile title — the blue cloth sunned along the spine and board edges, and foxing to the top edge of the text block, are near-universal condition traits, not issue points. Reference: Hubin, p. 205.

## Is this the true first?
US Farrar & Rinehart (New York, with Toronto on the imprint line) 1945, published under the George Hopley pseudonym, is the true first edition; the census claim is confirmed. The first British edition is markedly later and is a paperback — Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1949 — so there is no UK-vs-US precedence contest here; the Penguin is collected as the first British appearance only. The principal trap on this title is authorial: "George Hopley" is a pseudonym of Cornell Woolrich (who also wrote as William Irish), and the book is frequently catalogued and shelved under Woolrich. Later editions reprinted under the Cornell Woolrich byline are "first thus," not firsts — the true first must carry the Hopley name on the title page.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition tells specific to this title are documented in the sources consulted. The Farrar & Rinehart colophon rule serves as the working reprint tell: a copyright page without the publisher's device indicates a later printing. Because no club-specific point (blind-stamp, unpriced jacket, or club colophon) is attested for this title, club status should not be inferred from binding or jacket alone.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Night Has a Thousand Eyes* by George Hopley (Cornell Woolrich) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/night-has-a-thousand-eyes
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.