# Is "The Flight from the Enchanter" by Iris Murdoch a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Flight from the Enchanter by Iris Murdoch (Chatto & Windus, 1956) is identified by: True first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1956 — Murdoch's second novel — 316 pp., first impression, with no printing/number line (the first impression carries the 1956 Chatto & Windus imprint and no later-impression statement). The London Chatto & Windus 1956 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1956), which is secondary.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1956 — Murdoch's second novel — 316 pp., first impression, with no printing/number line (the first impression carries the 1956 Chatto & Windus imprint and no later-impression statement)
- Bound in publisher's cloth lettered in gilt on the spine; dealers describe most first-issue copies as brown cloth, though blue-boarded examples are also reported, so treat binding colour as a secondary point and rely on the imprint and jacket
- Primary point: the pictorial dust jacket designed by Edward Bawden, which should be present and unclipped (price present at the spine) on a first-issue example; a Book Society wrap-around band accompanied some copies
- Publisher imprint reads Chatto & Windus
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Iris Murdoch |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1956 — Murdoch's second novel — 316 pp., first impression, with no printing/number line… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1956 — Murdoch's second novel — 316 pp., first impression, with no printing/number line (the first impression carries the 1956 Chatto & Windus imprint and no later-impression statement). Bound in publisher's cloth lettered in gilt on the spine; dealers describe most first-issue copies as brown cloth, though blue-boarded examples are also reported, so treat binding colour as a secondary point and rely on the imprint and jacket. Primary point: the pictorial dust jacket designed by Edward Bawden, which should be present and unclipped (price present at the spine) on a first-issue example; a Book Society wrap-around band accompanied some copies.

## Is this the true first?
The London Chatto & Windus 1956 edition is the true first and precedes the American edition (The Viking Press, New York, 1956), which is secondary. English original — no translation-precedence question.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Reprint Society/World Books and Penguin issues are reprints. The Edward Bawden jacket is specific to the Chatto first; a later book-club jacket married onto 1956 sheets is a made-up copy, so confirm the jacket matches the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Flight from the Enchanter* by Iris Murdoch a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-flight-from-the-enchanter
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.