# Is "The Simple Art of Murder" by Raymond Chandler a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler (Houghton Mifflin, 1950) is identified by: US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1950. The US Houghton Mifflin edition is the true first of the collection as a book.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1950
- Omnibus collecting a dozen of Chandler's pulp stories together with the famous title essay
- First edition in book form of this collection
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Raymond Chandler |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1950 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
US Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1950. Omnibus collecting a dozen of Chandler's pulp stories together with the famous title essay. First edition in book form of this collection.

## Is this the true first?
The US Houghton Mifflin edition is the true first of the collection as a book. The title essay first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in December 1944. A UK Hamish Hamilton edition also appeared in 1950 but the US edition is the collection's first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings and reprints follow.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Simple Art of Murder* by Raymond Chandler a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-simple-art-of-murder
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.