# Is "The Crooked Hinge" by John Dickson Carr a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Crooked Hinge by John Dickson Carr (Harper & Brothers, 1938) is identified by: The Harper & Brothers issue, New York and London, 1938, states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page together with the Harper two-letter printing code I-N — I = September, N = 1938 — so a first printing is a September 1938 printing (code confirmed on dealer copies at MLC Books; 'first edition stated' independently confirmed at Midway Book Store and Buckingham Books). Both the Harper (New York) and Hamish Hamilton (London) editions appeared in 1938 and both are collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Harper & Brothers issue, New York and London, 1938, states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page together with the Harper two-letter printing code I-N — I = September, N = 1938 — so a first printing is a September 1938 printing (code confirmed on dealer copies at MLC Books; 'first edition stated' independently confirmed at Midway Book Store and Buckingham Books)
- Bound in orange cloth lettered in green on front board and spine; octavo, about 7 the printed price by 5 the printed price inches
- Collates 4 preliminary leaves plus pages 3-289, 20 cm (Library of Congress, LCCN 38030227)
- Sunning routinely flattens the green lettering toward grey, which accounts for dealer descriptions of 'grey lettering' on the same binding
- The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap
- The UK Hamish Hamilton issue, London 1938, is green cloth lettered in black, jacket artwork by Abbey, also a priced jacket (Goldeneye Rare Books bibliography)
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Dickson Carr |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1938 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Harper & Brothers issue, New York and London, 1938, states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page together with the Harper two-letter… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The Harper & Brothers issue, New York and London, 1938, states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page together with the Harper two-letter printing code I-N — I = September, N = 1938 — so a first printing is a September 1938 printing (code confirmed on dealer copies at MLC Books; 'first edition stated' independently confirmed at Midway Book Store and Buckingham Books). Bound in orange cloth lettered in green on front board and spine; octavo, about 7 the printed price by 5 the printed price inches. Collates 4 preliminary leaves plus pages 3-289, 20 cm (Library of Congress, LCCN 38030227). Sunning routinely flattens the green lettering toward grey, which accounts for dealer descriptions of 'grey lettering' on the same binding. The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap. The UK Hamish Hamilton issue, London 1938, is green cloth lettered in black, jacket artwork by Abbey, also a priced jacket (Goldeneye Rare Books bibliography).

## Is this the true first?
Both the Harper (New York) and Hamish Hamilton (London) editions appeared in 1938 and both are collected. The census claims US precedence; the Harper code I-N fixes the American printing to September 1938, but no source consulted gives a month for the Hamish Hamilton issue, so month-level precedence is NOT established — treat 'US first' as conventional rather than proven, particularly given that a Carr-scholarship source dates the companion title The Burning Court's UK issue ahead of its US issue. Wider Carr trap to keep in view: his US and UK editions frequently carry different titles (The Hollow Man / The Three Coffins; The Black Spectacles / The Problem of the Green Capsule), though The Crooked Hinge is titled identically in both markets.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A Harper copyright page without the 'FIRST EDITION' line, or carrying a code other than I-N, is a later printing. Beware Harper's year-letter recycling: Harper began reusing year letters in 1937 on a 25-letter cycle (J omitted), so I-N can in principle also read September 1963 — the 1938 book is separated by its period binding, paper and jacket design, and by the Harper & Brothers imprint itself (the firm became Harper & Row in 1962). The 1957 Harper omnibus 'John Dickson Carr Trio' (LCCN 56008777), the University of California Extension issue (1976, LCCN 76056880), Collier Books (1984, LCCN 84005016) and Penzler Publishers (2019) are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Crooked Hinge* by John Dickson Carr a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-crooked-hinge
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.