# Is "Sartre: Romantic Rationalist" by Iris Murdoch a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sartre: Romantic Rationalist by Iris Murdoch (Bowes & Bowes, 1953) is identified by: Murdoch's first book and the first book-length study of Sartre in English, issued in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought series (general editor Erich Heller). UK Bowes & Bowes (Cambridge) 1953 is the originating edition and the collected true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Murdoch's first book and the first book-length study of Sartre in English, issued in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought series (general editor Erich Heller)
- The true first is Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1953: a slim 12mo of 78 pp in red cloth with gilt spine lettering and a red top-stain
- A first issue carries the Bowes & Bowes imprint on the title/copyright leaf with no later-printing statement; the original dust jacket is a plain typographic series wrapper with the price present at the front flap (unclipped on an early jacket)
- Confirmed against multiple independent ABAA/PBFA dealer descriptions
- Publisher imprint reads Bowes & Bowes
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Iris Murdoch |
| Publisher | Bowes & Bowes |
| Year | 1953 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Murdoch's first book and the first book-length study of Sartre in English, issued in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Murdoch's first book and the first book-length study of Sartre in English, issued in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought series (general editor Erich Heller). The true first is Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1953: a slim 12mo of 78 pp in red cloth with gilt spine lettering and a red top-stain. A first issue carries the Bowes & Bowes imprint on the title/copyright leaf with no later-printing statement; the original dust jacket is a plain typographic series wrapper with the price present at the front flap (unclipped on an early jacket). Confirmed against multiple independent ABAA/PBFA dealer descriptions.

## Is this the true first?
UK Bowes & Bowes (Cambridge) 1953 is the originating edition and the collected true first. Yale University Press (New Haven) issued the first American edition in the SAME year, 1953 — a separately collected issue that does not have priority over the British printing. Both are dated 1953, so distinguish by the imprint on the title and copyright leaf.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No notable period book-club edition; later paperback and reprint issues (and subsequent Yale printings) are 'first thus,' not the 1953 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sartre: Romantic Rationalist* by Iris Murdoch a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sartre-romantic-rationalist
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.