# Is "The Greene Murder Case" by S. S. Van Dine a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928) is identified by: The Scribner's seal appears at the foot of the copyright page, per Scribner's pre-1930 practice (seal plus date of publication on firsts; later printings noted); the Scribner 'A' was not used until 1930 and its absence is not a fault. The US edition — Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1928 — is the true first; the novel was serialized in Scribner's Magazine in early 1928 (the February 1928 issue is confirmed) ahead of book publication.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Scribner's seal appears at the foot of the copyright page, per Scribner's pre-1930 practice (seal plus date of publication on firsts; later printings noted); the Scribner 'A' was not used until 1930 and its absence is not a fault
- A genuine state distinction is documented and independently reported: the first state has the title page dated MCMXXVIII with a matching copyright notice reading 'Copyright, 1928' only, while the second state reads 'Copyright, 1927, 1928, by Charles Scribner's Sons' on the copyright page — the added 1927 reflecting the earlier serial copyright
- Binding is publisher's black cloth with Art-Deco stamping in cream/white to the front cover and spine, collating xii, 388 pp. plus an ad leaf, with a frontispiece (a woodcut of the Greene mansion by Lowell L. Balcom) and figures in the text
- The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the flap
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | S. S. Van Dine |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1928 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Scribner's seal appears at the foot of the copyright page, per Scribner's pre-1930 practice (seal plus date of publication on firsts… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The Scribner's seal appears at the foot of the copyright page, per Scribner's pre-1930 practice (seal plus date of publication on firsts; later printings noted); the Scribner 'A' was not used until 1930 and its absence is not a fault. A genuine state distinction is documented and independently reported: the first state has the title page dated MCMXXVIII with a matching copyright notice reading 'Copyright, 1928' only, while the second state reads 'Copyright, 1927, 1928, by Charles Scribner's Sons' on the copyright page — the added 1927 reflecting the earlier serial copyright. Binding is publisher's black cloth with Art-Deco stamping in cream/white to the front cover and spine, collating xii, 388 pp. plus an ad leaf, with a frontispiece (a woodcut of the Greene mansion by Lowell L. Balcom) and figures in the text. The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the flap.

## Is this the true first?
The US edition — Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1928 — is the true first; the novel was serialized in Scribner's Magazine in early 1928 (the February 1928 issue is confirmed) ahead of book publication. The UK edition is Ernest Benn, London, 1928, the first English edition and separately collected; The Spectator reviewed the Benn edition on 5 May 1928, consistent with the US book preceding it. Benn issued a fourth impression in 1930, so the Benn imprint alone does not establish a first. The census claim (US Scribner's 1928 precedes UK Benn 1928) is confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition of 1929, illustrated with eight stills from the William Powell film, is the common trap; any Grosset & Dunlap imprint is a reprint and lacks the Scribner seal. Note also that the original Scribner's Magazine serial parts (January–April 1928) are sometimes offered bound up and are not the book first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Greene Murder Case* by S. S. Van Dine a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-greene-murder-case
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.