# Is "The Moving Toyshop" by Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery) (Victor Gollancz, 1946) is identified by: Gollancz house practice is the governing point: before 1984 no statement appears on a Gollancz first edition, while later impressions are noted on the copyright page, so an unstated copyright page is correct for the first. UK Gollancz 1946 is the true first; J.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Gollancz house practice is the governing point: before 1984 no statement appears on a Gollancz first edition, while later impressions are noted on the copyright page, so an unstated copyright page is correct for the first
- The first is bound in publisher's navy/blue cloth with gilt lettering to the spine, in the characteristic yellow Gollancz jacket (often faded toward cream) lettered in purple/black on the front panel and spine; the jacket is a priced jacket, with the price present at the spine
- One dealer records 1946 on both the title and copyright pages, which is the expected agreement
- Third of the Gervase Fen novels, dedicated to Philip Larkin
- Publisher imprint reads Victor Gollancz
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz |
| Year | 1946 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Gollancz house practice is the governing point: before 1984 no statement appears on a Gollancz first edition, while later impressions are… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Gollancz house practice is the governing point: before 1984 no statement appears on a Gollancz first edition, while later impressions are noted on the copyright page, so an unstated copyright page is correct for the first. The first is bound in publisher's navy/blue cloth with gilt lettering to the spine, in the characteristic yellow Gollancz jacket (often faded toward cream) lettered in purple/black on the front panel and spine; the jacket is a priced jacket, with the price present at the spine. One dealer records 1946 on both the title and copyright pages, which is the expected agreement. Third of the Gervase Fen novels, dedicated to Philip Larkin.

## Is this the true first?
UK Gollancz 1946 is the true first; J. B. Lippincott (Philadelphia and New York) 1946 is the first American edition, published in the same year, and both are collected. The Lippincott is distinguished by teal blue cloth lettered in black, a pictorial jacket carrying a photograph of the author at the piano, and a Sketch Plan of Oxford — a different sheet entirely, so imprint and binding separate the two despite the shared date. Note one dealer records the book as published in 1945 with 1946 on the title and copyright pages; the printed date and the standard reference date are both 1946.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No title-specific book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. General tells apply to the American Lippincott: a blindstamp impressed on the rear board near the spine, a "Book Club Edition" notation on the jacket flap, or a jacket issued without a price. On the UK side the practical check is the Gollancz copyright page — a later impression is stated there.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Moving Toyshop* by Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-moving-toyshop
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.