# Is "The Case of the Mischievous Doll" by Erle Stanley Gardner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Case of the Mischievous Doll by Erle Stanley Gardner (William Morrow, 1963) is identified by: William Morrow and Company, New York, 1963, first printing. The US William Morrow 1963 edition is the true first in book form.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- William Morrow and Company, New York, 1963, first printing
- A Perry Mason novel (Gardner's 69th)
- Red cloth with black lettering; first-edition dust jacket carries the original front-flap price and the book ends with a leaf of advertisements for Perry Mason mysteries
- Publisher imprint reads William Morrow
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erle Stanley Gardner |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
| Year | 1963 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | William Morrow and Company, New York, 1963, first printing |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
William Morrow and Company, New York, 1963, first printing. A Perry Mason novel (Gardner's 69th). Red cloth with black lettering; first-edition dust jacket carries the original front-flap price and the book ends with a leaf of advertisements for Perry Mason mysteries.

## Is this the true first?
The US William Morrow 1963 edition is the true first in book form. An abridged version appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1962, but that magazine serialization is not the book first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Pocket Books paperback (1964) and other reprints follow the Morrow first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Case of the Mischievous Doll* by Erle Stanley Gardner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-case-of-the-mischievous-doll
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.