# Is "The Little Train" by Graham Greene a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Little Train by Graham Greene (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946) is identified by: First printing of Greene's first children's picture book, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946, issued anonymously with neither Greene's name on the book nor on the jacket; the credited author and illustrator is Dorothy Craigie (pseudonym of Dorothy Glover). UK Eyre & Spottiswoode 1946 is the true first; published anonymously, with Greene's authorship acknowledged only later (from the 1950s, around the time of the companion Little Fire Engine).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing of Greene's first children's picture book, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946, issued anonymously with neither Greene's name on the book nor on the jacket; the credited author and illustrator is Dorothy Craigie (pseudonym of Dorothy Glover)
- A slim oblong quarto in yellow pictorial cloth, the spine and upper cover decorated with small steam locomotives in red, black, and green and the lower cover with a black-lantern vignette, top edge stained yellow, over cartographic (map) endpapers, illustrated in colour throughout
- A jacket-issue point is recorded: the earliest jacket has a plain front flap, while a later state of the same first impression adds review quotations to the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Eyre & Spottiswoode
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Graham Greene |
| Publisher | Eyre & Spottiswoode |
| Year | 1946 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing of Greene's first children's picture book, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946, issued anonymously with neither Greene's name… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing of Greene's first children's picture book, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946, issued anonymously with neither Greene's name on the book nor on the jacket; the credited author and illustrator is Dorothy Craigie (pseudonym of Dorothy Glover). A slim oblong quarto in yellow pictorial cloth, the spine and upper cover decorated with small steam locomotives in red, black, and green and the lower cover with a black-lantern vignette, top edge stained yellow, over cartographic (map) endpapers, illustrated in colour throughout. A jacket-issue point is recorded: the earliest jacket has a plain front flap, while a later state of the same first impression adds review quotations to the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
UK Eyre & Spottiswoode 1946 is the true first; published anonymously, with Greene's authorship acknowledged only later (from the 1950s, around the time of the companion Little Fire Engine).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The anonymous first issue, lacking Greene's name, is the key point; confirm the copy retains the yellow pictorial cloth and map endpapers of the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Little Train* by Graham Greene a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-little-train
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.