# Is "Ripley Under Ground" by Patricia Highsmith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith (Doubleday & Company, 1970) is identified by: The first printing carries "First Edition" stated on the copyright page. The census claim is correct: Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1970 precedes the UK Heinemann edition of 1971, and it is the second Ripliad title, needed alongside the 1955 first of The Talented Mr.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing carries "First Edition" stated on the copyright page
- Physically: octavo, 275 pp., publisher's beige cloth (one seller describes the same binding as grey, so treat the shade as description variance rather than a variant state), with the titling and design stamped in red on the spine
- The jacket is pictorial and is a priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap and unclipped on a correct copy
- Critically, the "First Edition" line alone does not settle this book: Doubleday book-club editions of this period frequently reproduce the trade copyright page, statement and all
- The decisive checks are the blind-stamped device (a dot, circle, square, or triangle) at the lower rear board near the spine, which a trade first lacks and a club copy carries; the presence of the price at the jacket flap; and the heavier bulk and true cloth of the trade issue
- Doubleday gutter codes appear on trade and club printings alike and do not by themselves decide the question
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday & Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
| Publisher | Doubleday & Company |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing carries "First Edition" stated on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing carries "First Edition" stated on the copyright page. Physically: octavo, 275 pp., publisher's beige cloth (one seller describes the same binding as grey, so treat the shade as description variance rather than a variant state), with the titling and design stamped in red on the spine. The jacket is pictorial and is a priced jacket, with the price present at the front flap and unclipped on a correct copy. Critically, the "First Edition" line alone does not settle this book: Doubleday book-club editions of this period frequently reproduce the trade copyright page, statement and all. The decisive checks are the blind-stamped device (a dot, circle, square, or triangle) at the lower rear board near the spine, which a trade first lacks and a club copy carries; the presence of the price at the jacket flap; and the heavier bulk and true cloth of the trade issue. Doubleday gutter codes appear on trade and club printings alike and do not by themselves decide the question.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is correct: Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1970 precedes the UK Heinemann edition of 1971, and it is the second Ripliad title, needed alongside the 1955 first of The Talented Mr. Ripley (Coward-McCann, not Doubleday — do not conflate the two publishers across the series). Both the Doubleday 1970 and the Heinemann 1971 are collected; the Heinemann first is issued in an illustrated jacket after Mon Mohan. A Heinemann uncorrected proof in plain text-only thin card wrappers predates the British edition and is recorded by a Highsmith collector as showing a missing quote mark on page 20 that was corrected in the published UK text — but it predates only the UK edition, not the American first, which remains the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Documented for this title: a Doubleday book-club copy bound in light tan boards with plain white endpapers and brown lettering to the spine — set against the trade first's beige cloth with red spine stamping — and issued without a jacket or with an unpriced one. General Doubleday club tells apply: the blind-stamped device at the lower rear board, no price at the jacket flap, lighter and thinner paper and boards, and a smaller trim. Because the club printing can carry the same "First Edition" statement, a copy offered as a first on the strength of that line alone should be refused until the rear board and jacket flap are checked.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Ripley Under Ground* by Patricia Highsmith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/ripley-under-ground
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.