# Is "On the Frontier" by Christopher Isherwood a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of On the Frontier by Christopher Isherwood (Faber & Faber, 1938) is identified by: First edition, first printing, 1938, octavo, 120 pages, in publisher's tan cloth with the black-and-tan dust jacket. UK Faber & Faber is the true first and precedes the US Random House edition of 1939.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, 1938, octavo, 120 pages, in publisher's tan cloth with the black-and-tan dust jacket
- Edition of 3,000 copies
- A verse play, A Melodrama in Three Acts, written jointly with W. H. Auden
- Bloomfield & Mendelson A18
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Christopher Isherwood |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, 1938, octavo, 120 pages, in publisher's tan cloth with the black-and-tan dust jacket |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, 1938, octavo, 120 pages, in publisher's tan cloth with the black-and-tan dust jacket. Edition of 3,000 copies. A verse play, A Melodrama in Three Acts, written jointly with W. H. Auden. Bloomfield & Mendelson A18.

## Is this the true first?
UK Faber & Faber is the true first and precedes the US Random House edition of 1939. The work is a collaboration with W. H. Auden, though catalogued here under Isherwood.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *On the Frontier* by Christopher Isherwood a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/on-the-frontier
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.