# Is "The Key (Kagi)" by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Key (Kagi) by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki (Alfred A. Knopf, 1961) is identified by: First US edition, translated by Howard Hibbett, with the Borzoi (Knopf) colophon and the publisher's first-edition statement on the copyright page. Both the Knopf US edition and the Secker & Warburg UK edition appeared in 1961.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First US edition, translated by Howard Hibbett, with the Borzoi (Knopf) colophon and the publisher's first-edition statement on the copyright page
- The competing UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London) was published the same year, 1961, in midnight-blue cloth lettered in silver with a pictorial jacket; both use the Hibbett translation
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jun'ichiro Tanizaki |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year | 1961 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First US edition, translated by Howard Hibbett, with the Borzoi (Knopf) colophon and the publisher's first-edition statement on the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First US edition, translated by Howard Hibbett, with the Borzoi (Knopf) colophon and the publisher's first-edition statement on the copyright page. The competing UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London) was published the same year, 1961, in midnight-blue cloth lettered in silver with a pictorial jacket; both use the Hibbett translation.

## Is this the true first?
Both the Knopf US edition and the Secker & Warburg UK edition appeared in 1961. The Knopf US issue is conventionally cataloged as the first English-language edition, but because the two are the same year the priority is not absolutely settled from publication records alone; identify the US issue by the Borzoi colophon and Knopf first-edition statement. The Japanese original (Kagi) was published 1956.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Vintage International and Perigee paperbacks are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Key (Kagi)* by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-key-kagi
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.