# Is "The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini ćuprija)" by Ivo Andrić a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini ćuprija) by Ivo Andrić (Prosveta, 1945) is identified by: The true first is the Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, ekavian, Cyrillic) Na Drini ćuprija: roman, published in Belgrade in March 1945 by the newly founded state house Prosveta as the inaugural title in its series Južnoslovenski pisci (South Slavic Writers) — its status as Prosveta's very first book is itself a defining identification point. The collectible true first is the 1945 Serbo-Croatian original: Na Drini ćuprija, Prosveta, Belgrade, March 1945 (written by Andrić in German-occupied Belgrade between July 1942 and December 1943).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, ekavian, Cyrillic) Na Drini ćuprija: roman, published in Belgrade in March 1945 by the newly founded state house Prosveta as the inaugural title in its series Južnoslovenski pisci (South Slavic Writers) — its status as Prosveta's very first book is itself a defining identification point
- The first printing ran roughly 5,000 copies and sold out by the end of that year; genuine first-issue copies carry the 1945 imprint and the Prosveta / Južnoslovenski pisci series designation on the title page and are wartime-quality austerity productions on poor paper
- Because a total of five Yugoslav editions appeared within about four years of 1945, the surest tells are the 1945 title-page date and the series-first imprint rather than any later reset text; the exact binding state (wrappers vs. cloth) of the earliest copies is not uniformly documented, so verify the title-page year and series line directly
- Publisher imprint reads Prosveta
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ivo Andrić |
| Publisher | Prosveta |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, ekavian, Cyrillic) Na Drini ćuprija: roman, published in Belgrade in March 1945 by the newly… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, ekavian, Cyrillic) Na Drini ćuprija: roman, published in Belgrade in March 1945 by the newly founded state house Prosveta as the inaugural title in its series Južnoslovenski pisci (South Slavic Writers) — its status as Prosveta's very first book is itself a defining identification point. The first printing ran roughly 5,000 copies and sold out by the end of that year; genuine first-issue copies carry the 1945 imprint and the Prosveta / Južnoslovenski pisci series designation on the title page and are wartime-quality austerity productions on poor paper. Because a total of five Yugoslav editions appeared within about four years of 1945, the surest tells are the 1945 title-page date and the series-first imprint rather than any later reset text; the exact binding state (wrappers vs. cloth) of the earliest copies is not uniformly documented, so verify the title-page year and series line directly.

## Is this the true first?
The collectible true first is the 1945 Serbo-Croatian original: Na Drini ćuprija, Prosveta, Belgrade, March 1945 (written by Andrić in German-occupied Belgrade between July 1942 and December 1943). The first English translation, by Lovett F. Edwards, appeared in 1959: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London) published the first UK / first English-language edition (forest-green cloth, orange spine lettering), and The Macmillan Company (New York) issued the first American edition the same year. Dealers consistently treat the London Allen & Unwin printing as preceding the Macmillan release, but same-year US/UK precedence is not documented to the month, so confirm the imprint before asserting priority. Both English editions appeared two years before Andrić's 1961 Nobel Prize.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No notable book-club edition drives confusion for the 1945 Serbo-Croatian first; the real traps are (1) mistaking one of the four later Yugoslav editions issued within ~four years of 1945 for the true first — check the title-page year, not just the Prosveta name; and (2) among English copies, later and much cheaper reissues, especially the University of Chicago Press paperback (Phoenix Fiction, William H. McNeill introduction) and modern Penguin/Vintage printings, which are frequently listed loosely as "first" but are not. For English first-edition purposes only the 1959 Allen & Unwin (UK) or 1959 Macmillan (US) printings qualify.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini ćuprija)* by Ivo Andrić a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-bridge-on-the-drina
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.