# Is "Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin" by P.G. Wodehouse a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin by P.G. Wodehouse (Barrie & Jenkins, 1972) is identified by: First UK edition, London, Barrie & Jenkins, 12 October 1972, with an Osbert Lancaster front jacket illustration. UK Barrie & Jenkins is the true first and precedes the US by roughly nine months.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First UK edition, London, Barrie & Jenkins, 12 October 1972, with an Osbert Lancaster front jacket illustration
- The US edition followed on 6 August 1973 from Simon & Schuster under the title The Plot That Thickened, with a Paul Bacon jacket illustration
- Publisher imprint reads Barrie & Jenkins
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | P.G. Wodehouse |
| Publisher | Barrie & Jenkins |
| Year | 1972 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First UK edition, London, Barrie & Jenkins, 12 October 1972, with an Osbert Lancaster front jacket illustration |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First UK edition, London, Barrie & Jenkins, 12 October 1972, with an Osbert Lancaster front jacket illustration. The US edition followed on 6 August 1973 from Simon & Schuster under the title The Plot That Thickened, with a Paul Bacon jacket illustration.

## Is this the true first?
UK Barrie & Jenkins is the true first and precedes the US by roughly nine months. The US edition was retitled The Plot That Thickened; the differing titles are the key point.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
US and UK appeared under different titles.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin* by P.G. Wodehouse a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/pearls-girls-and-monty-bodkin
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.