# Is "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" by Chris Van Allsburg a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton Mifflin, 1984) is identified by: First printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page; later printings drop the low numbers (copies explicitly catalogued as 'First Edition; Sixth Printing' circulate, so the number line must be read, not assumed). US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984 is the true first and is the edition collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page; later printings drop the low numbers (copies explicitly catalogued as 'First Edition
- Sixth Printing' circulate, so the number line must be read, not assumed)
- Slim quarto (approx
- 28 cm), [32] pp., with 13 full-page illustrations
- Bound in salmon cloth — described by some dealers as orange, the same cloth under differing descriptive habits — with gilt lettering to the spine and front cover
- Black pictorial dust jacket
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Chris Van Allsburg |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1984 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page; later printings drop the low numbers (copies… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page; later printings drop the low numbers (copies explicitly catalogued as 'First Edition; Sixth Printing' circulate, so the number line must be read, not assumed). Slim quarto (approx. 28 cm), [32] pp., with 13 full-page illustrations. Bound in salmon cloth — described by some dealers as orange, the same cloth under differing descriptive habits — with gilt lettering to the spine and front cover. Black pictorial dust jacket. Jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap and the ISBN present on the back panel; a price-clipped flap removes a point of description. ISBN 0395353939.

## Is this the true first?
US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984 is the true first and is the edition collected. A UK edition was published by Andersen Press (ISBN 0862641012); it does not precede the US issue, and its exact date was not independently confirmed here, so it should not be described as simultaneous without further evidence. Collect the Houghton Mifflin issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented in the sources consulted for this title. The dominant trap is not a club edition but later Houghton Mifflin printings retaining the 1984 date and the salmon cloth while differing only in the number line — read the line. Distinct from the 1996 'Portfolio Edition' (loose plates) and the 2011 'Chronicles of Harris Burdick', both of which are separate later publications and not states of the 1984 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Mysteries of Harris Burdick* by Chris Van Allsburg a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-mysteries-of-harris-burdick
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.