# Is "The Dark Frigate" by Charles Boardman Hawes a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1923) is identified by: First edition, Atlantic Monthly Press (Boston), 1923, octavo, 247 pages. US true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, Atlantic Monthly Press (Boston), 1923, octavo, 247 pages
- Title page dated 1923 with no added printing statement on the copyright verso
- Yellow pictorial boards; color frontispiece by Anton Otto Fischer, with nine full-page illustrations
- Publisher imprint reads Atlantic Monthly Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Boardman Hawes |
| Publisher | Atlantic Monthly Press |
| Year | 1923 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First edition, Atlantic Monthly Press (Boston), 1923, octavo, 247 pages |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, Atlantic Monthly Press (Boston), 1923, octavo, 247 pages. Title page dated 1923 with no added printing statement on the copyright verso. Yellow pictorial boards; color frontispiece by Anton Otto Fischer, with nine full-page illustrations.

## Is this the true first?
US true first. The book was published posthumously in 1923; Hawes died that year, and the Newbery Medal followed in 1924.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings and the 1934 Beacon Hill Bookshelf reissue (which added tipped-in color plates) are not the first. Confirm the 1923 Atlantic Monthly Press imprint and the absence of any added-printing line. The book is very scarce in the dust jacket.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Dark Frigate* by Charles Boardman Hawes a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-dark-frigate
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.