# Is "The Pursuit of Love" by Nancy Mitford a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (Hamish Hamilton, 1945) is identified by: First edition, first impression: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 (published December 1945). True first is Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 — the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 (published December 1945)
- Bound in the publisher's blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, in the pictorial dust wrapper illustrated by Roger Furse — binding and jacket artist are corroborated by three independent dealers
- Printed on poor wartime paper stock, so foxing and light toning of the text block are normal on genuine first impressions
- On unclipped jackets the original price is present at the front flap; a clipped flap removes the clearest jacket-state evidence
- Because the book reprinted immediately and heavily, the copyright-page verso is the deciding point: the first impression carries no added impression or reprint statement, while Hamish Hamilton's later impressions (a second impression dated 1946 is recorded) are so stated
- Publisher imprint reads Hamish Hamilton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nancy Mitford |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first impression: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 (published December 1945) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition, first impression: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 (published December 1945). Bound in the publisher's blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, in the pictorial dust wrapper illustrated by Roger Furse — binding and jacket artist are corroborated by three independent dealers. Printed on poor wartime paper stock, so foxing and light toning of the text block are normal on genuine first impressions. On unclipped jackets the original price is present at the front flap; a clipped flap removes the clearest jacket-state evidence. Because the book reprinted immediately and heavily, the copyright-page verso is the deciding point: the first impression carries no added impression or reprint statement, while Hamish Hamilton's later impressions (a second impression dated 1946 is recorded) are so stated.

## Is this the true first?
True first is Hamish Hamilton, London, 1945 — the census claim is confirmed. The first American edition is Random House, New York, 1946 (copyright 1945), in a dust jacket illustrated by Albert Jousset; it was the first Mitford title published in America and is collected in its own right, but it follows the London edition. Both are collected: Hamish Hamilton 1945 is the true first, Random House 1946 the first American. The 1945 copyright date on the Random House edition does not give it precedence.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Reprint Society (London) issued the title in 1947 — a book-club reprint, not the first, and identifiable by that imprint on the title page. Dealers also record a Hamish Hamilton second impression dated 1946. With roughly 200,000 copies sold in the first year, early reprints are far commoner than first impressions, so the verso statement rather than the 1945 title-page year is what settles a copy.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Pursuit of Love* by Nancy Mitford a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-pursuit-of-love
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.