# Is "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight" by Vladimir Nabokov a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Vladimir Nabokov (New Directions, 1941) is identified by: Juliar A21.1, first printing, issue a, published 6 December 1941 — the day before Pearl Harbor. The US New Directions 1941 edition is the true first — confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Juliar A21.1, first printing, issue a, published 6 December 1941 — the day before Pearl Harbor
- Title page reads "NEW DIRECTIONS
- NORFOLK, CONN."; copyright page reads "COPYRIGHT BY NEW DIRECTIONS, 1941"; the colophon reads "FIFTEEN HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED IN NOVEMBER MCMXLI, BY THE WALPOLE PRINTING OFFICE, MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK"
- Three points decide issue a:
- BINDING — issue a is a rough woven burlap red cloth over boards with white endpapers; issue b is a smooth red cloth
- LABELS — issue a's front-cover and spine paper labels are the SMALL size only (front label 6.1 x 5.8 cm with decorative leaf border, text line c
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Vladimir Nabokov |
| Publisher | New Directions |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Juliar A21.1, first printing, issue a, published 6 December 1941 — the day before Pearl Harbor |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Juliar A21.1, first printing, issue a, published 6 December 1941 — the day before Pearl Harbor. Title page reads "NEW DIRECTIONS • NORFOLK, CONN."; copyright page reads "COPYRIGHT BY NEW DIRECTIONS, 1941"; the colophon reads "FIFTEEN HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED IN NOVEMBER MCMXLI, BY THE WALPOLE PRINTING OFFICE, MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK". Three points decide issue a: (1) BINDING — issue a is a rough woven burlap red cloth over boards with white endpapers; issue b is a smooth red cloth. (2) LABELS — issue a's front-cover and spine paper labels are the SMALL size only (front label 6.1 x 5.8 cm with decorative leaf border, text line c. 2.7 cm; spine label 12.7 x 1.4 cm), whereas issue b mixes small and large labels (large front text line c. 3.0 cm; spine label 13.1 x 1.4 cm). (3) JACKET — issue a's Alvin Lustig jacket (stylised man with cane on a reddish-pink ground) spells the author "Nabokov" throughout and heads the back flap "Other New Directions Books"; some issue b jackets misspell "Nabokoff" throughout with "Valdimir" on the front flap and head the back flap "NEW DIRECTIONS FICTION". Priority runs small labels over large, and "Nabokov" over "Nabokoff". Only 749 of the 1,500 sheets were bound as issue a; the balance (751) was warehoused and bound later. Preview/review copies of issue a carry a publication-date stamp of 12 December 1941 on the front free endpaper.

## Is this the true first?
The US New Directions 1941 edition is the true first — confirmed. This is Nabokov's first novel written in English (begun Paris, December 1938; finished January 1939), so no Russian original precedes it and no original-language precedence question arises. The first British edition is Editions Poetry London (PL), December 1945 (Juliar A21.2): plum cloth over boards, gilt spine stamping running across within a scrollwork border, thin tan paper jacket; the copyright page reads "First published in 1945 by PL Editions Poetry London... Produced in Complete Conformity with the Authorised Economy Standards". Juliar notes uncertain evidence it may in fact have been issued March 1946. Both the New Directions 1941 and the Editions Poetry London 1945 are collected; the 1941 has precedence. FIRST-THUS TRAP: the 1959 New Directions reissue (Juliar A21.3) is not a first edition — its copyright page carries BOTH "COPYRIGHT BY NEW DIRECTIONS, 1941" and "COPYRIGHT © 1959 BY NEW DIRECTIONS" plus LC card number 59-9489, it has no colophon, and it adds introductory matter (pp. vii-xv).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1941 first. The reprint traps are later editions rather than clubs: the 1959 New American edition (Juliar A21.3, twelve issues), the 1960 Weidenfeld & Nicolson British edition (A21.4), Penguin wrappers from November 1964 (A21.5), and Vintage from 1992 (A21.6). Critically, the second binding of the original 1941 sheets (issue b, smooth red cloth) is NOT a reprint — it is the same first printing, bound later, and remains the first edition, though it ranks below issue a. Juliar, working from New Directions' own records, dates that second binding April 1945; note that some dealer descriptions instead say 1949, and Juliar's date should be preferred as the bibliographically documented one.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Real Life of Sebastian Knight* by Vladimir Nabokov a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-real-life-of-sebastian-knight
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.