# Is "The Black Prince" by Iris Murdoch a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch (Chatto & Windus, 1973) is identified by: First edition, Chatto & Windus, London, 1973; xviii, 364 pp.; ISBN 0 7011 1924 1 (OCLC 641302; LCCN 73-160017). The Chatto & Windus London edition of 1973 precedes the New York issue and is the true first; the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, Chatto & Windus, London, 1973; xviii, 364 pp.; ISBN 0 7011 1924 1 (OCLC 641302
- LCCN 73-160017)
- Bound in purple cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Christopher Cornford — the Cornford jacket is the single most useful check on a UK copy, and multiple independent dealers describe the pairing of purple cloth with the Cornford jacket consistently
- British trade practice of the period means there is no number line: the first printing carries the 1973 Chatto & Windus imprint with the date and no later-impression statement on the verso of the title leaf, and a copy showing a second- or later-impression line is not the first
- An uncorrected proof precedes the published book, in plain unprinted wrappers, one recorded copy stamped 2 October 1972 — proofs are a separate collecting object and are not the first edition
- Jackets should be checked for clipping; a priced jacket with the price present at the flap is the wanted state
- Publisher imprint reads Chatto & Windus

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Iris Murdoch |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
| Year | 1973 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, Chatto & Windus, London, 1973; xviii, 364 pp.; ISBN 0 7011 1924 1 (OCLC 641302 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, Chatto & Windus, London, 1973; xviii, 364 pp.; ISBN 0 7011 1924 1 (OCLC 641302; LCCN 73-160017). Bound in purple cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Christopher Cornford — the Cornford jacket is the single most useful check on a UK copy, and multiple independent dealers describe the pairing of purple cloth with the Cornford jacket consistently. British trade practice of the period means there is no number line: the first printing carries the 1973 Chatto & Windus imprint with the date and no later-impression statement on the verso of the title leaf, and a copy showing a second- or later-impression line is not the first. An uncorrected proof precedes the published book, in plain unprinted wrappers, one recorded copy stamped 2 October 1972 — proofs are a separate collecting object and are not the first edition. Jackets should be checked for clipping; a priced jacket with the price present at the flap is the wanted state.

## Is this the true first?
The Chatto & Windus London edition of 1973 precedes the New York issue and is the true first; the census claim is confirmed. UK publication was in February 1973, ahead of the Viking Press (New York) first American edition of the same year — xviii, 366 pp., ISBN 0 670 17286 3, LCCN 72-091828 — which is bound in yellow and orange boards with purple floral decoration in a pictorial jacket and is a different setting from the Chatto. Both editions are collected and the two are easily told apart by pagination, binding and jacket; the London Chatto is the senior. Some US dealers loosely style the Viking simply "the printed pricet edition" — read that as first American edition. The novel took the 1973 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 1973 Booker.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition of the 1973 Chatto issue was documented in this pass. The reprint tells that matter are format tells: the Penguin paperback (1975 and later) and the Vintage / Chatto later settings are reprints, and any copy carrying a later ISBN or a post-1973 date is not the first. Because the Viking (New York) sheets are a separate American setting, a Viking copy is never the true first however it is described. Later Chatto impressions are distinguished only by the impression statement on the title-leaf verso, since cloth and jacket art were carried over unchanged.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Black Prince* by Iris Murdoch a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-black-prince
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.