# Is "The Death of Grass" by John Christopher a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Death of Grass by John Christopher (Michael Joseph, 1956) is identified by: First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, 1956, octavo, 230 pp., in the publisher's black boards/cloth lettered in white at the spine. Census claim CONFIRMED as to precedence, but the US year is NOT settled and the census's "1957" should not be stated as fact.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, 1956, octavo, 230 pp., in the publisher's black boards/cloth lettered in white at the spine
- Dustwrapper design is by Trevor Denning, with a predominantly white rear panel and the publisher's price present at the front flap
- Per Michael Joseph's house convention, first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and list no further impressions; an added impression statement rules out the first, and there is no number line
- The author is Samuel Youd writing as John Christopher, and this is his second novel under that pseudonym; the title is cited in Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (no
- Publisher imprint reads Michael Joseph
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Christopher |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, 1956, octavo, 230 pp., in the publisher's black boards/cloth lettered in white at… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, 1956, octavo, 230 pp., in the publisher's black boards/cloth lettered in white at the spine. Dustwrapper design is by Trevor Denning, with a predominantly white rear panel and the publisher's price present at the front flap. Per Michael Joseph's house convention, first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and list no further impressions; an added impression statement rules out the first, and there is no number line. The author is Samuel Youd writing as John Christopher, and this is his second novel under that pseudonym; the title is cited in Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (no. 21).

## Is this the true first?
Census claim CONFIRMED as to precedence, but the US year is NOT settled and the census's "1957" should not be stated as fact. Michael Joseph, London, 1956 is the true first — dealers describing the American issue agree the British edition came first under the original title. The first American edition is No Blade of Grass, Simon and Schuster, New York, in yellow and green cloth-backed boards; sources conflict on its year. Mostly Dystopian Books catalogues it as "First American edition, 1956," while the Open Library/Library of Congress record gives Simon and Schuster, New York, 1957 with LCCN 57005674 and the note "First published in London in 1956 under title: The death of grass." That conflict is unresolved on the present evidence, so the US edition is given here as "Simon and Schuster, New York, 1956 or 1957 (disputed)." The retitling is the alternate-title trap; the novel was also serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post as No Blade of Grass, and the 1970 film of that title drives tie-in first-thus reissues.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1956 Michael Joseph printing in the sources consulted. The reprint tell for the UK edition is an added impression statement on the copyright page while the Trevor Denning jacket design is retained.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Death of Grass* by John Christopher a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-death-of-grass
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.