# Is "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" by Dodie Smith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (William Heinemann, 1956) is identified by: London: William Heinemann, 1956 (the imprint line reads Melbourne / London / Toronto). The UK Heinemann 1956 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: William Heinemann, 1956 (the imprint line reads Melbourne / London / Toronto)
- The copyright page of the first printing reads "First Published 1956" with no further impression line; later impressions are identified by the reprint line added beneath
- Octavo (about 220 x 140 mm), roughly 190-191 pages ([6], 191 in one dealer collation), printed by The Windmill Press, Surrey
- Publisher's blue cloth lettered at the spine — dealers describe the spine stamping variously as white and as silver, so treat the exact lettering colour as unsettled rather than as a discriminating point — with illustrated endpapers and some 55 black-and-white line illustrations by the twin sisters Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone
- Publisher's pictorial dust jacket, priced at the flap on unclipped copies
- Publisher imprint reads William Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Dodie Smith |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | London: William Heinemann, 1956 (the imprint line reads Melbourne / London / Toronto) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
London: William Heinemann, 1956 (the imprint line reads Melbourne / London / Toronto). The copyright page of the first printing reads "First Published 1956" with no further impression line; later impressions are identified by the reprint line added beneath. Octavo (about 220 x 140 mm), roughly 190-191 pages ([6], 191 in one dealer collation), printed by The Windmill Press, Surrey. Publisher's blue cloth lettered at the spine — dealers describe the spine stamping variously as white and as silver, so treat the exact lettering colour as unsettled rather than as a discriminating point — with illustrated endpapers and some 55 black-and-white line illustrations by the twin sisters Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone. Publisher's pictorial dust jacket, priced at the flap on unclipped copies.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Heinemann 1956 edition is the true first. The first American edition (New York: The Viking Press, 1957) follows a year later and is separately collected: blue cloth, the same Grahame-Johnstone line illustrations and illustrated endpapers, with its own jacket. Both are collected; the Heinemann holds priority and the Viking is the American first only.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A wrap-around band reading "The Book of Walt Disney's Film" is a later addition tied to the 1961 Disney adaptation — it can be found on first-edition sheets but is a later state, never a first-issue point, and its presence should not be read as confirming a first. Later Heinemann impressions are caught by the reprint line added to the copyright page under "First Published 1956." A book-club printing of the American (Viking) text is encountered in the trade; documented club tells for it were not established in the sources consulted, so verify rather than assume.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Hundred and One Dalmatians* by Dodie Smith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-hundred-and-one-dalmatians
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.