# Is "The Crime at Black Dudley" by Margery Allingham a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (Jarrolds, 1929) is identified by: True first: London: Jarrolds, 1929 — the first Albert Campion novel and exceptionally scarce; no widely published set of copyright-page points for the Jarrolds printing is documented in accessible dealer or auction records, so identification rests on the Jarrolds London imprint with the 1929 date. UK Jarrolds 1929 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: London: Jarrolds, 1929 — the first Albert Campion novel and exceptionally scarce; no widely published set of copyright-page points for the Jarrolds printing is documented in accessible dealer or auction records, so identification rests on the Jarrolds London imprint with the 1929 date
- The first American edition, retitled The Black Dudley Murder (Doubleday Doran's Crime Club, New York, 1929), is well documented: black cloth lettered and decorated in red on the front panel and spine, dust jacket signed 'PIC' with the price present at the flap
- Publisher imprint reads Jarrolds
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Margery Allingham |
| Publisher | Jarrolds |
| Year | 1929 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: London: Jarrolds, 1929 — the first Albert Campion novel and exceptionally scarce; no widely published set of copyright-page… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first: London: Jarrolds, 1929 — the first Albert Campion novel and exceptionally scarce; no widely published set of copyright-page points for the Jarrolds printing is documented in accessible dealer or auction records, so identification rests on the Jarrolds London imprint with the 1929 date. The first American edition, retitled The Black Dudley Murder (Doubleday Doran's Crime Club, New York, 1929), is well documented: black cloth lettered and decorated in red on the front panel and spine, dust jacket signed 'PIC' with the price present at the flap.

## Is this the true first?
UK Jarrolds 1929 is the true first. The census note's US year of 1930 is incorrect: Wikipedia and multiple ABAA dealer records date the Crime Club Black Dudley Murder to 1929, the same year. Both editions are collected; because the Jarrolds first is so rare, most copies offered as firsts are the US issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Doubleday Doran stated 'first edition' on Crime Club firsts, so absence of that statement marks a later printing; UK reissues (e.g., Heinemann, 1967) carry later imprints and dates.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Crime at Black Dudley* by Margery Allingham a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-crime-at-black-dudley
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.