# Is "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" by John Maynard Keynes a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes (Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1936) is identified by: Census claim confirmed. UK true first: Macmillan, London, February 1936 has precedence and is the edition of record.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression: Macmillan and Co., London, 1936, published February 1936; octavo, about 22 x 14.5 cm; collation [2], xii, 403, [1] pp
- Points: title page dated 1936 with the Macmillan and Co., Limited, London imprint, and a verso free of any impression or reprint statement — Macmillan reprinted fast, the second impression following in March 1936 and the third in December 1936, and those later impressions are noted on the copyright page while the title page keeps the 1936 date
- Binding: publisher's blue cloth (described by dealers as pebbled blue and, in some copies, blue-green), spine lettered and ruled in gilt, boards with blind rules
- The dust jacket is scarce and is the copy-defining element; it carries the price at the spine or flap, so refer to a jacketed copy as priced-jacket present rather than assuming the jacket
- Standard citations: Printing and the Mind of Man 423
- Moggridge A10.1
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co., Limited

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Maynard Keynes |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co., Limited |
| Year | 1936 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first impression: Macmillan and Co., London, 1936, published February 1936; octavo, about 22 x 14.5 cm; collation [2], xii… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Census claim confirmed. First edition, first impression: Macmillan and Co., London, 1936, published February 1936; octavo, about 22 x 14.5 cm; collation [2], xii, 403, [1] pp. Points: title page dated 1936 with the Macmillan and Co., Limited, London imprint, and a verso free of any impression or reprint statement — Macmillan reprinted fast, the second impression following in March 1936 and the third in December 1936, and those later impressions are noted on the copyright page while the title page keeps the 1936 date. Binding: publisher's blue cloth (described by dealers as pebbled blue and, in some copies, blue-green), spine lettered and ruled in gilt, boards with blind rules. The dust jacket is scarce and is the copy-defining element; it carries the price at the spine or flap, so refer to a jacketed copy as priced-jacket present rather than assuming the jacket. Standard citations: Printing and the Mind of Man 423; Moggridge A10.1.

## Is this the true first?
UK true first: Macmillan, London, February 1936 has precedence and is the edition of record. The first American edition — Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1936, xii + 403 pp., also in blue cloth lettered in gilt — is separately collected as the first US and follows the London printing within the same year. CAUTION: dealer descriptions of the Harcourt Brace issue conflict on how it was manufactured (some say it was made up from British sheets and printed in Edinburgh; others record printing by the Polygraphic Company of America, New York), and this workflow could not resolve the conflict — do not publish a manufacturing claim for the US edition. Collect the London Macmillan for the true first; collect Harcourt Brace only as the first American.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for either 1936 edition. The tells that matter are the Macmillan later impressions of 1936 itself — second (March 1936) and third (December 1936) — which retain the 1936 title-page date and are distinguished only by the reprint statement on the verso; a copy offered as "1936 first edition" on the strength of the title-page date alone must have its copyright page checked. Later traps are the Macmillan Collected Writings volume VII (1973) and the many modern Harcourt/Palgrave Macmillan reprints and facsimiles.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money* by John Maynard Keynes a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-general-theory-of-employment-interest-and-money
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.