# Is "The Delicate Prey and Other Stories" by Paul Bowles a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Delicate Prey and Other Stories by Paul Bowles (Random House, 1950) is identified by: True first of this collection is Random House (New York), 1950; first edition, first printing so stated on the copyright page. For this exact title/collection, Random House (November 1950) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first of this collection is Random House (New York), 1950; first edition, first printing so stated on the copyright page
- Bound in brown cloth with a spider-web decoration, top edges stained dark gray; the pictorial dust jacket was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and is priced at the flap
- Octavo, collecting 17 stories
- Bowles's second book, dedicated to his mother
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Paul Bowles |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first of this collection is Random House (New York), 1950; first edition, first printing so stated on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first of this collection is Random House (New York), 1950; first edition, first printing so stated on the copyright page. Bound in brown cloth with a spider-web decoration, top edges stained dark gray; the pictorial dust jacket was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and is priced at the flap. Octavo, collecting 17 stories; Bowles's second book, dedicated to his mother.

## Is this the true first?
For this exact title/collection, Random House (November 1950) is the true first. The UK volume A Little Stone (John Lehmann, London, August 1950) appeared about three months earlier but is a DIFFERENT, differently-titled collection of twelve stories that deliberately omits 'The Delicate Prey' and 'Pages from Cold Point' (on Cyril Connolly's and Somerset Maugham's advice over censorship/distribution) — it is not a UK edition of this book, so contents differ by country and both are collected as separate titles.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented in sources consulted; later Random House printings add impression statements and lack the copyright-page first-printing point.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Delicate Prey and Other Stories* by Paul Bowles a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-delicate-prey-and-other-stories
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.