Is My The Children of Green Knowe a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1954
• Octavo, 157 pages, with a monochrome frontispiece and five further plates plus in-text drawings — pen-and-ink and scraperboard work by the author's son Peter Boston, which many later paperback and some later hardcover editions omit entirely
• Publisher's green cloth lettered in blue at the spine
• Publisher's pictorial dust wrapper, priced at the flap on unclipped copies
• Faber's house style for the year sets the imprint statement in roman numerals — "First published in mcmliv by Faber and Faber Limited 24 Russell Square London W.C.1" — with later impressions adding a reprint line beneath it; this wording is confirmed as Faber's 1954 practice (it is the recorded statement in Faber books of that year) rather than transcribed from a copy of this title, so treat it as house practice pending a direct collation
• A commended runner-up for the 1954 Carnegie Medal and the first of the six Green Knowe books

How Faber and Faber marked a first edition

• First printings state "First published in [Year]" (often "First published in mcmxxxx") on the copyright/verso page, with no list of later impressions
• Prior to 1968 the year was set in ROMAN NUMERALS (e.g. 'First published in mcmliv'); from 1968 onward Arabic numerals were used — a key dating tell

Full Faber and Faber first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The UK Faber 1954 edition is the true first. The first American edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955) follows a year later, retains the Peter Boston illustrations and also collates 157 pages; it is collected as the American first but carries no priority. Note the series retitling trap: Boston's second book, The Chimneys of Green Knowe (Faber, 1958), was issued by Harcourt as Treasure of Green Knowe — the American retitling applies to that volume, not to this one, so a "Treasure of Green Knowe" is not this book under another name.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the Faber first is documented in the sources consulted. The working traps are later Faber impressions (caught by the reprint line added under the roman-numeral imprint statement), the Harcourt 1955 American edition offered as a "first," the cheap later reprints and paperbacks that drop the Peter Boston illustrations altogether, and the recent Faber 70th-anniversary illustrated edition, which restores the original artwork and can mislead at a glance.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Children of Green Knowe a first edition?

A first edition of The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston (Faber and Faber) is identified by: London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1954.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The UK Faber 1954 edition is the true first.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue of the Faber first is documented in the sources consulted. The working traps are later Faber impressions (caught by the reprint line added under the roman-numeral imprint statement), the Harcourt 1955 American edition offered as a "first," the cheap later reprints and paperbacks that drop the Peter Boston illustrations altogether, and the recent Faber 70th-anniversary illustrated edition, which restores the original artwork and can mislead at a glance.

I have a first edition of The Children of Green Knowe — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.