# Is "The Condor and the Cows" by Christopher Isherwood a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Condor and the Cows by Christopher Isherwood (Methuen, 1949) is identified by: First edition, 1949, a South American travel diary illustrated with photographs by William Caskey. Both the UK Methuen and US Random House editions were published in 1949.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, 1949, a South American travel diary illustrated with photographs by William Caskey
- The Methuen London printing is catalogued as the first English edition; a Random House New York edition also appeared in 1949
- Publisher imprint reads Methuen
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Christopher Isherwood |
| Publisher | Methuen |
| Year | 1949 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, 1949, a South American travel diary illustrated with photographs by William Caskey |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, 1949, a South American travel diary illustrated with photographs by William Caskey. The Methuen London printing is catalogued as the first English edition; a Random House New York edition also appeared in 1949.

## Is this the true first?
Both the UK Methuen and US Random House editions were published in 1949. Methuen is generally catalogued as the first edition, but the precise month-level precedence between the two 1949 issues is not reliably documented; the claim that the UK printing definitively precedes the US should not be stated as certain.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Condor and the Cows* by Christopher Isherwood a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-condor-and-the-cows
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.