# Is "Red Cavalry" by Isaac Babel a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel (Gosizdat, 1926) is identified by: The true first is the Russian collection, Konarmiia (Konarmiya), published by Gosizdat (Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo / State Publishing House), Moscow, in 1926, in wrappers. Russian true first: Gosizdat, Moscow, 1926 (Konarmiia).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Russian collection, Konarmiia (Konarmiya), published by Gosizdat (Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo / State Publishing House), Moscow, in 1926, in wrappers
- The first English-language edition was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1929, simultaneously in London and New York from the same setting and translation; binding is smooth deep orange cloth lettered and decorated in black, top edge stained red, with a red-and-black pictorial title page and (when present) a red-and-black pictorial dust jacket, collating roughly pp. [2], i–ix, [1], 1–213, [3]. The two 1929 issues differ only in the translator credited — John Harland on the London issue (Knopf Ltd., printed in the British Isles at Guernsey by the Star and Gazette) and Nadia Helstein on the New York issue
- Publisher imprint reads Gosizdat
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Isaac Babel |
| Publisher | Gosizdat |
| Year | 1926 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the Russian collection, Konarmiia (Konarmiya), published by Gosizdat (Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo / State Publishing… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Russian collection, Konarmiia (Konarmiya), published by Gosizdat (Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo / State Publishing House), Moscow, in 1926, in wrappers. The first English-language edition was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1929, simultaneously in London and New York from the same setting and translation; binding is smooth deep orange cloth lettered and decorated in black, top edge stained red, with a red-and-black pictorial title page and (when present) a red-and-black pictorial dust jacket, collating roughly pp. [2], i–ix, [1], 1–213, [3]. The two 1929 issues differ only in the translator credited — John Harland on the London issue (Knopf Ltd., printed in the British Isles at Guernsey by the Star and Gazette) and Nadia Helstein on the New York issue.

## Is this the true first?
Russian true first: Gosizdat, Moscow, 1926 (Konarmiia). The census claim 'US precedes UK' is NOT supported: the London and New York Knopf issues (both 1929) share the identical translation and are regarded as simultaneous, with no established precedence — they are distinguished by the translator name printed (Harland/London vs Helstein/New York), not by priority. The London issue was reportedly printed in smaller numbers.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club first is documented. Later reprintings and the mid-century retranslation (Walter Morison, in The Collected Stories, 1955) are later texts, not the 1929 first English edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Red Cavalry* by Isaac Babel a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/red-cavalry
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.