# Is "The Magic Christian" by Terry Southern a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Magic Christian by Terry Southern (André Deutsch, 1959) is identified by: The true first is the André Deutsch (London) 1959 first edition, first impression: 8vo, publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Nicolas Bentley; a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state. Census claim CONFIRMED: the true first is the UK — André Deutsch, London, 1959 — with Random House, New York, 1960 following as the first American edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the André Deutsch (London) 1959 first edition, first impression: 8vo, publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Nicolas Bentley; a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state
- The first American edition (Random House, New York, 1960) is a physically distinct book and is separately collected: it states "First Printing" on the copyright page and is bound in black cloth with a pink decoration to the front board, gilt spine lettering, and a pink topstain, in a dust jacket illustrated by William Pène du Bois
- The jacket artist is the fastest single discriminator on a jacketed copy — Bentley means Deutsch/UK, Pène du Bois means Random House/US. No first-state text error is recorded for either edition in the dealer and bibliographic descriptions consulted
- Publisher imprint reads André Deutsch
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Terry Southern |
| Publisher | André Deutsch |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the André Deutsch (London) 1959 first edition, first impression: 8vo, publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the André Deutsch (London) 1959 first edition, first impression: 8vo, publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Nicolas Bentley; a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap is the wanted state. The first American edition (Random House, New York, 1960) is a physically distinct book and is separately collected: it states "First Printing" on the copyright page and is bound in black cloth with a pink decoration to the front board, gilt spine lettering, and a pink topstain, in a dust jacket illustrated by William Pène du Bois. The jacket artist is the fastest single discriminator on a jacketed copy — Bentley means Deutsch/UK, Pène du Bois means Random House/US. No first-state text error is recorded for either edition in the dealer and bibliographic descriptions consulted.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim CONFIRMED: the true first is the UK — André Deutsch, London, 1959 — with Random House, New York, 1960 following as the first American edition. Southern was an American author whose early books were published first in Britain by Deutsch, so the ordinary US-first assumption is wrong here. Both editions are collected and should be named separately: Deutsch 1959 is the first edition; Random House 1960 is the first American edition. One AI-generated encyclopedia source asserts a Random House 1959 US first — this is not supported by any dealer, auction, or bibliographic record consulted and should be disregarded.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The reprint traps are later paperback reissues — Berkley (February 1961), Bantam (1970) — and modern Grove Press trade reprints, none of which are firsts of any kind.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Magic Christian* by Terry Southern a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-magic-christian
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.