# Is "The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat (Self-published, 1937) is identified by: The Persian true first, Buf-e kur, was produced by Hedayat himself in Bombay in 1937 in about fifty duplicated copies reproduced from his own handwriting by mimeograph stencil, each marked as not for sale or publication in Iran and largely handed to friends abroad — an extreme rarity. Original language Persian: Bombay, 1937 (c.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Persian true first, Buf-e kur, was produced by Hedayat himself in Bombay in 1937 in about fifty duplicated copies reproduced from his own handwriting by mimeograph stencil, each marked as not for sale or publication in Iran and largely handed to friends abroad — an extreme rarity
- The text was next serialized in the Tehran weekly Iran in autumn 1941 (after Reza Shah's abdication) and issued in book form at Tehran that year
- The first English edition is The Blind Owl, translated by D.P. Costello, 1957, published by John Calder in London and by Grove Press in New York
- Grove issued both a limited hardcover hand-numbered to 100 copies and the Evergreen (E-100) paperback
- Publisher imprint reads Self-published
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sadegh Hedayat |
| Publisher | Self-published |
| Year | 1937 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Persian true first, Buf-e kur, was produced by Hedayat himself in Bombay in 1937 in about fifty duplicated copies reproduced from his… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The Persian true first, Buf-e kur, was produced by Hedayat himself in Bombay in 1937 in about fifty duplicated copies reproduced from his own handwriting by mimeograph stencil, each marked as not for sale or publication in Iran and largely handed to friends abroad — an extreme rarity. The text was next serialized in the Tehran weekly Iran in autumn 1941 (after Reza Shah's abdication) and issued in book form at Tehran that year. The first English edition is The Blind Owl, translated by D.P. Costello, 1957, published by John Calder in London and by Grove Press in New York; Grove issued both a limited hardcover hand-numbered to 100 copies and the Evergreen (E-100) paperback.

## Is this the true first?
Original language Persian: Bombay, 1937 (c. 50 copies) is the true first; the Tehran 1941 serialization/book is the first Iranian appearance. First English: 1957, D.P. Costello, issued the same year by John Calder (London) and Grove Press (New York). Copyright was held by John Calder (Publishers) Ltd., which points to London as the originating publisher, but the exact issue precedence between the simultaneous Calder and Grove printings is not firmly documented — both 1957 editions are collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Grove's Evergreen E-100 is the paperback issue of the 1957 English first, distinct from Grove's limited numbered hardcover — not a later reprint. Beware the 2010-11 Naveed Noori translation marketed as the 'first translation based on the Bombay edition': it is a different, later translation, not the 1957 first English; later Calder/Alma reprints titled 'The Blind Owl and Other Stories' also postdate the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Blind Owl* by Sadegh Hedayat a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-blind-owl
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.