# Is "The North Ship" by Philip Larkin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The North Ship by Philip Larkin (The Fortune Press, 1945) is identified by: Fortune Press first edition 1945 (Bloomfield A1a), one of fewer than 500 copies. UK Fortune Press (1945) is the true first; the 1966 Faber is a revised reissue ('first thus'), not the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Larkin's first book
- Fortune Press first edition 1945 (Bloomfield A1a), one of fewer than 500 copies
- Bound in black cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, 36 pages, and issued in a thin, fragile printed dust jacket (commonly sunned and chipped, and often price-clipped by the publisher with a later the printed price label)
- The 1945 Fortune first precedes the revised 1966 Faber reissue, which adds an introduction and a poem
- Publisher imprint reads The Fortune Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Philip Larkin |
| Publisher | The Fortune Press |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Larkin's first book |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Larkin's first book. Fortune Press first edition 1945 (Bloomfield A1a), one of fewer than 500 copies. Bound in black cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, 36 pages, and issued in a thin, fragile printed dust jacket (commonly sunned and chipped, and often price-clipped by the publisher with a later the printed price label). The 1945 Fortune first precedes the revised 1966 Faber reissue, which adds an introduction and a poem.

## Is this the true first?
UK Fortune Press (1945) is the true first; the 1966 Faber is a revised reissue ('first thus'), not the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The 1966 Faber is distinguished by its imprint, the added introduction, and the added poem.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The North Ship* by Philip Larkin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-north-ship
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.