# Is "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu (trans. Arthur Waley) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (trans. Arthur Waley) (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1925) is identified by: The work's original is an early-11th-century Japanese manuscript with no printed 'first edition'; the collectible first is Arthur Waley's English translation, issued in six volumes by George Allen & Unwin, London, 1925–1933: The Tale of Genji (1925), The Sacred Tree (1926), A Wreath of Cloud (1927), Blue Trousers (1928), The Lady of the Boat (1932), and The Bridge of Dreams (1933). The true first of the work is the 11th-century manuscript, not collectible in the ordinary sense; for collectors the standard 'first' is the Waley translation — a 'first thus' (first appearance in English).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The work's original is an early-11th-century Japanese manuscript with no printed 'first edition'; the collectible first is Arthur Waley's English translation, issued in six volumes by George Allen & Unwin, London, 1925–1933: The Tale of Genji
- , The Sacred Tree
- , A Wreath of Cloud
- , Blue Trousers
- , The Lady of the Boat
- , and The Bridge of Dreams
- Publisher imprint reads George Allen & Unwin, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Murasaki Shikibu (trans. Arthur Waley) |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin, London |
| Year | 1925 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The work's original is an early-11th-century Japanese manuscript with no printed 'first edition'; the collectible first is Arthur Waley's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The work's original is an early-11th-century Japanese manuscript with no printed 'first edition'; the collectible first is Arthur Waley's English translation, issued in six volumes by George Allen & Unwin, London, 1925–1933: The Tale of Genji (1925), The Sacred Tree (1926), A Wreath of Cloud (1927), Blue Trousers (1928), The Lady of the Boat (1932), and The Bridge of Dreams (1933). First impressions are in original cloth of varying shades of green and blue across the set. The London Allen & Unwin issues are the true firsts and precede the American issues (Houghton Mifflin, Boston/New York); title-page variants exist and the R. F. Johns Waley bibliography assigns no priority among them.

## Is this the true first?
The true first of the work is the 11th-century manuscript, not collectible in the ordinary sense; for collectors the standard 'first' is the Waley translation — a 'first thus' (first appearance in English). Precedence runs to the London George Allen & Unwin volumes over the concurrent US Houghton Mifflin issues. The 1935 one-volume omnibus is a later 'first thus,' not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1935 one-volume Allen & Unwin omnibus, Modern Library issue, and later single-volume editions are reprints / 'first thus,' not the original six-volume issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Tale of Genji* by Murasaki Shikibu (trans. Arthur Waley) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-tale-of-genji
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.