# Is "The Obscene Bird of Night" by José Donoso (trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades) (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1973) is identified by: First English edition, translated by Hardie St. The true first edition is the Spanish 'El obsceno pájaro de la noche' (Seix Barral, Barcelona, 1970).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition, translated by Hardie St
- Martin and Leonard Mades: Alfred A. Knopf cloth in dust jacket, New York, 1973
- This Knopf translation is abridged (roughly twenty pages cut versus the Spanish text)
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | José Donoso (trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades) |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf, New York |
| Year | 1973 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition, translated by Hardie St |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First English edition, translated by Hardie St. Martin and Leonard Mades: Alfred A. Knopf cloth in dust jacket, New York, 1973. This Knopf translation is abridged (roughly twenty pages cut versus the Spanish text).

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the Spanish 'El obsceno pájaro de la noche' (Seix Barral, Barcelona, 1970). The 1973 Knopf is the first (abridged) English-language edition. The 2024 New Directions edition revises the St. Martin/Mades translation with Megan McDowell, restoring nearly twenty pages of previously untranslated text — a distinct first-thus for the complete text, not a reprint of the Knopf text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Godine and later paperbacks reprint the abridged Knopf text; the McDowell unabridged edition is a separate first-thus, not a book-club edition or reprint of the 1973 cloth.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Obscene Bird of Night* by José Donoso (trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-obscene-bird-of-night
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.