# Is "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (University of London Press, 1946) is identified by: First published June 1946 by University of London Press Ltd, London; no edition or impression statement appears on the first impression, and later impressions are noted as such. The University of London Press edition (London, 1946) is the true first and is the edition that won the 1946 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First published June 1946 by University of London Press Ltd, London; no edition or impression statement appears on the first impression, and later impressions are noted as such
- Bound in publisher's blue cloth with a bright gilt unicorn device stamped on the front panel, with pictorial endpapers
- 8vo, vi + 286 pp
- Illustrated by C. Walter Hodges with a colour frontispiece, three further colour plates, and monochrome illustrations throughout
- The dust wrapper is illustrated by Hodges and should be present and priced at the flap on an unclipped copy; the wrapper is fragile and commonly restored or absent
- Publisher imprint reads University of London Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Goudge |
| Publisher | University of London Press |
| Year | 1946 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First published June 1946 by University of London Press Ltd, London; no edition or impression statement appears on the first impression… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First published June 1946 by University of London Press Ltd, London; no edition or impression statement appears on the first impression, and later impressions are noted as such. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with a bright gilt unicorn device stamped on the front panel, with pictorial endpapers; 8vo, vi + 286 pp. Illustrated by C. Walter Hodges with a colour frontispiece, three further colour plates, and monochrome illustrations throughout. The dust wrapper is illustrated by Hodges and should be present and priced at the flap on an unclipped copy; the wrapper is fragile and commonly restored or absent.

## Is this the true first?
The University of London Press edition (London, 1946) is the true first and is the edition that won the 1946 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association. The first American edition is Coward-McCann (New York, 1947), also illustrated by C. Walter Hodges, in blue cloth but decorated in silver rather than gilt — collected in its own right but secondary to the UK issue. Both editions are named here because both are collected; the UK 1946 has precedence. Demand is inflated by J.K. Rowling having named it her favourite childhood book.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later University of London Press impressions carry impression statements on the copyright page — check for these first. The 1992 reissue illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert is a "first thus," not a reprint of the Hodges first, and is frequently mis-described; Lion, Puffin, and later paperback issues are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Little White Horse* by Elizabeth Goudge a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-little-white-horse
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.