# Is "The Master and Margarita (Master i Margarita)" by Mikhail Bulgakov a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Master and Margarita (Master i Margarita) by Mikhail Bulgakov (Grove Press, 1967) is identified by: The point of issue is a genuine textual/translation split, not printings — two different 1967 English translations. First English is 1967 in two competing states, each the first of its own text: Grove/Ginsburg (shorter, censored 'Moskva' text) versus Collins & Harvill and Harper & Row/Glenny (fuller text).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The point of issue is a genuine textual/translation split, not printings — two different 1967 English translations
- Mirra Ginsburg's translation, Grove Press, New York, 1967 (stated first edition, first printing; octavo, 402 pp), made from the shortened/censored 'Moskva' magazine text
- Michael Glenny's translation, issued the same year by Collins & Harvill (London) — the first UK edition — and by Harper & Row (New York), made from a fuller, less-censored text that restores passages the Soviet censor cut
- Identify by the translator credit on the title page: Ginsburg = Grove (shorter)
- Glenny = Collins & Harvill / Harper & Row (fuller)
- Publisher imprint reads Grove Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mikhail Bulgakov |
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Year | 1967 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The point of issue is a genuine textual/translation split, not printings — two different 1967 English translations |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The point of issue is a genuine textual/translation split, not printings — two different 1967 English translations. (1) Mirra Ginsburg's translation, Grove Press, New York, 1967 (stated first edition, first printing; octavo, 402 pp), made from the shortened/censored 'Moskva' magazine text. (2) Michael Glenny's translation, issued the same year by Collins & Harvill (London) — the first UK edition — and by Harper & Row (New York), made from a fuller, less-censored text that restores passages the Soviet censor cut. Identify by the translator credit on the title page: Ginsburg = Grove (shorter); Glenny = Collins & Harvill / Harper & Row (fuller).

## Is this the true first?
First English is 1967 in two competing states, each the first of its own text: Grove/Ginsburg (shorter, censored 'Moskva' text) versus Collins & Harvill and Harper & Row/Glenny (fuller text). Which physically appeared first is disputed and not the collecting point — the translator and text are. Neither is the complete text: the full Russian book followed later (Posev, Frankfurt, 1969; full Soviet text 1973), and the first fully complete English translation is Burgin & O'Connor 1995.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Specify translator and publisher. Do NOT assume Harper & Row = Ginsburg: Harper & Row's 1967 is the Glenny (fuller) text, while Ginsburg's shorter text is the Grove issue. The censorship-driven textual difference is the key point of issue; later printings carry number lines.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Master and Margarita (Master i Margarita)* by Mikhail Bulgakov a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-master-and-margarita-master-i-margarita
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.