# Is "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (Hamish Hamilton, 1978) is identified by: First edition, first impression: London, Hamish Hamilton, 1978. UK Hamish Hamilton (London), 1978 is the originating edition and the collected true first; it was runner-up for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression: London, Hamish Hamilton, 1978
- Issued WITHOUT a dust wrapper, in the publisher's glazed pictorial paper-covered boards — dealers and auction records independently describe first editions as 'without dust wrapper, as issued', so a jacket is not a point of issue here and its absence is not a defect
- Royal octavo/small folio, wordless throughout, illustrated in coloured pencil, 32pp
- Hamish Hamilton firsts of this period state 'First published (Year)' or 'First published in Great Britain in (Year)' on the copyright page and note subsequent printings; the house added a number row only in 1988, so no number line should be present
- The test is the first-publication line together with the absence of any impression statement
- Publisher imprint reads Hamish Hamilton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Raymond Briggs |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
| Year | 1978 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First edition, first impression: London, Hamish Hamilton, 1978 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first impression: London, Hamish Hamilton, 1978. Issued WITHOUT a dust wrapper, in the publisher's glazed pictorial paper-covered boards — dealers and auction records independently describe first editions as 'without dust wrapper, as issued', so a jacket is not a point of issue here and its absence is not a defect. Royal octavo/small folio, wordless throughout, illustrated in coloured pencil, 32pp. Hamish Hamilton firsts of this period state 'First published (Year)' or 'First published in Great Britain in (Year)' on the copyright page and note subsequent printings; the house added a number row only in 1988, so no number line should be present. The test is the first-publication line together with the absence of any impression statement.

## Is this the true first?
UK Hamish Hamilton (London), 1978 is the originating edition and the collected true first; it was runner-up for the Kate Greenaway Medal. The first American edition is Random House, New York, published November 1978 — the same year — likewise in publisher's illustrated boards; first printings are reported to state 'First American Edition' on the copyright page with a complete number line, and one dealer additionally cites a 0307 code on the jacket. Both are collected, but the Random House is the first American edition, not the true first. No source consulted supplies a month for the Hamish Hamilton, so UK priority rests on its being the originating publisher rather than on a documented month-by-month comparison.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. Because the Hamish Hamilton first was issued without a jacket, the usual jacket tests do not apply — identify from the copyright page alone. The title has been reprinted continuously since 1978 in the same pictorial boards, so later Hamish Hamilton impressions are near-identical externally and the added impression statement is the only reliable tell. Puffin paperbacks, printings tied to the 1982 animated adaptation, and later Random House/Penguin reissues are 'first thus' only.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Snowman* by Raymond Briggs a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-snowman
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.