# Is "The Colossus of Maroussi" by Henry Miller a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller (The Colt Press, 1941) is identified by: The true first was issued by The Colt Press, San Francisco, 1941, in two simultaneous states catalogued in Shifreen & Jackson: A26(a), the signed limited issue of 100 copies, and A26(b), the trade issue. US Colt Press 1941 precedes the first UK/English edition, William Heinemann via Secker & Warburg, London, 1942 (234,[2]pp, blue cloth).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first was issued by The Colt Press, San Francisco, 1941, in two simultaneous states catalogued in Shifreen & Jackson: A26(a), the signed limited issue of 100 copies, and A26(b), the trade issue
- Octavo, [8],244pp
- The LIMITED issue (A26a) is bound in decorated/floral paper-covered boards over a cloth spine with a printed paper spine label, is signed by Miller on the third blank leaf, has the side-edges of the text block untrimmed, and carries the higher (limited) price printed at the rear cover
- The TRADE issue (A26b) is bound in publisher's blue cloth with a printed paper spine label, is unsigned, has fully trimmed edges, the lower trade price at the rear cover, and was issued in a pictorial (blue-and-white striped) dust jacket
- One ABAA dealer's side-by-side comparison text is ambiguously worded on which binding belongs to which issue, but the weight of independent listings and the S&J numbers place floral boards on the limited and blue cloth on the trade
- Publisher imprint reads The Colt Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Henry Miller |
| Publisher | The Colt Press |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first was issued by The Colt Press, San Francisco, 1941, in two simultaneous states catalogued in Shifreen & Jackson: A26(a), the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first was issued by The Colt Press, San Francisco, 1941, in two simultaneous states catalogued in Shifreen & Jackson: A26(a), the signed limited issue of 100 copies, and A26(b), the trade issue. Octavo, [8],244pp. The LIMITED issue (A26a) is bound in decorated/floral paper-covered boards over a cloth spine with a printed paper spine label, is signed by Miller on the third blank leaf, has the side-edges of the text block untrimmed, and carries the higher (limited) price printed at the rear cover. The TRADE issue (A26b) is bound in publisher's blue cloth with a printed paper spine label, is unsigned, has fully trimmed edges, the lower trade price at the rear cover, and was issued in a pictorial (blue-and-white striped) dust jacket. One ABAA dealer's side-by-side comparison text is ambiguously worded on which binding belongs to which issue, but the weight of independent listings and the S&J numbers place floral boards on the limited and blue cloth on the trade.

## Is this the true first?
US Colt Press 1941 precedes the first UK/English edition, William Heinemann via Secker & Warburg, London, 1942 (234,[2]pp, blue cloth). Both the A26a limited and A26b trade are 1941 Colt Press firsts from the same setting; the signed limited of 100 is the more desirable primary issue. The US edition is the collected true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No contemporaneous US book club for this small fine-press title; later reprints and the New Directions issues are clearly later and not confusable with the Colt Press sheets. A facsimile dust jacket is sometimes supplied to jacketless copies and should be disclosed as such.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Colossus of Maroussi* by Henry Miller a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-colossus-of-maroussi
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.