# Is "Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays" by George Orwell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays by George Orwell (Secker & Warburg, 1950) is identified by: First edition, first printing, published 5 October 1950. The Secker & Warburg London edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, published 5 October 1950
- Publisher's pale green cloth lettered in red on the spine, top edge red, in the grey and red pictorial dust wrapper designed by Michael Kennard
- The first posthumous collection of Orwell's essays, issued in the same year as his death
- Publisher imprint reads Secker & Warburg
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Orwell |
| Publisher | Secker & Warburg |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, published 5 October 1950 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, published 5 October 1950. Publisher's pale green cloth lettered in red on the spine, top edge red, in the grey and red pictorial dust wrapper designed by Michael Kennard. The first posthumous collection of Orwell's essays, issued in the same year as his death.

## Is this the true first?
The Secker & Warburg London edition is the true first. The first US edition (Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1950) appeared the same year in charcoal grey cloth lettered in silver with a typographic jacket; it follows the UK printing.

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

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays* by George Orwell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shooting-an-elephant-and-other-essays
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.