# Is "The Magic Pudding" by Norman Lindsay a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay (Angus & Robertson, 1918) is identified by: Published Sydney, October 1918, in a single printing of 3,000 copies — a quarto "guinea book" aimed at the art collector as much as the child, 171 pp., with a colour title page and 102 illustrations by Lindsay (drawn 1917). The Australian Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1918 edition is the true first, and it is the sole first — the census claim is confirmed as to precedence.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published Sydney, October 1918, in a single printing of 3,000 copies — a quarto "guinea book" aimed at the art collector as much as the child, 171 pp., with a colour title page and 102 illustrations by Lindsay (drawn 1917)
- Critically, the 3,000 copies were one printing but were bound at different times, so the variants are binding ISSUES, not separate printings — every copy is the first edition, first printing
- The accepted issue point is the endpapers: the first issue (reported as the first 50 copies bound) has light green endpapers bearing the Angus & Robertson monogram, designed by Walter Syer; the balance was bound later with plain cream endpapers, and dealers report the later issue is trimmed slightly shorter
- Spine cloth colour is NOT a settled point — dealers describe the cloth-backed binding variously as blue and as burgundy, and lettering to the spine is reported both in gilt and in black, so the endpapers should carry the identification
- A dust jacket with a mounted cover illustration is reported by one dealer; it is extremely scarce and the jacket point is single-sourced
- Publisher imprint reads Angus & Robertson
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Norman Lindsay |
| Publisher | Angus & Robertson |
| Year | 1918 |
| True first | Australian edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Published Sydney, October 1918, in a single printing of 3,000 copies — a quarto "guinea book" aimed at the art collector as much as the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Published Sydney, October 1918, in a single printing of 3,000 copies — a quarto "guinea book" aimed at the art collector as much as the child, 171 pp., with a colour title page and 102 illustrations by Lindsay (drawn 1917). Critically, the 3,000 copies were one printing but were bound at different times, so the variants are binding ISSUES, not separate printings — every copy is the first edition, first printing. The accepted issue point is the endpapers: the first issue (reported as the first 50 copies bound) has light green endpapers bearing the Angus & Robertson monogram, designed by Walter Syer; the balance was bound later with plain cream endpapers, and dealers report the later issue is trimmed slightly shorter. Spine cloth colour is NOT a settled point — dealers describe the cloth-backed binding variously as blue and as burgundy, and lettering to the spine is reported both in gilt and in black, so the endpapers should carry the identification. A dust jacket with a mounted cover illustration is reported by one dealer; it is extremely scarce and the jacket point is single-sourced.

## Is this the true first?
The Australian Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1918 edition is the true first, and it is the sole first — the census claim is confirmed as to precedence. But the census's "UK/US issues follow" is NOT confirmed: no contemporaneous UK or US edition is documented in the sources consulted, and later British and American appearances are reprints rather than co-equal firsts. Note the publisher's own trap: the 1918 prospectus advertised that "only one edition will be published," which was a marketing device — the book has never been out of print in the century since, so the claim carries no bibliographical weight.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented in the sources consulted. The reprint field is dense — Angus & Robertson and later publishers have reprinted continuously since 1918 (a 1963 "New edition" is among those circulating with dealer descriptions that echo the first). The distinguishing features are the quarto "guinea book" format, the 1918 A&R Sydney imprint and the endpapers; later editions are smaller in format and reset.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Magic Pudding* by Norman Lindsay a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-magic-pudding
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.