# Is "The Woman in the Dunes" by Kōbō Abe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe (Shinchōsha, Tokyo, 1962) is identified by: Japanese true first: Suna no onna (砂の女), Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1962 (serialized in Gunzō January–April 1962); the Japanese first is a clothbound hardcover with pictorial jacket, acetate and slipcase, illustrated by Yasuo Kazuki. CORRECTION to census: the UK Secker & Warburg edition is dated 1964, not 1965 — the same year as the Knopf US edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Japanese true first: Suna no onna (砂の女), Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1962 (serialized in Gunzō January–April 1962); the Japanese first is a clothbound hardcover with pictorial jacket, acetate and slipcase, illustrated by Yasuo Kazuki
- First US/English edition: Alfred A. Knopf (a Borzoi Book), New York, 1964, translated by E. Dale Saunders with drawings by Machi Abe; bound in teal cloth stamped in brown and gold, the copyright page stating 'FIRST AMERICAN EDITION' (Knopf's practice for a work already published abroad) with no later-printing notation
- A later 1964 Knopf printing exists and is distinguished by the absence of that clean first-issue statement
- The first UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London, 1964) is bound in green cloth-effect boards lettered in silver
- Publisher imprint reads Shinchōsha, Tokyo
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kōbō Abe |
| Publisher | Shinchōsha, Tokyo |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Japanese true first: Suna no onna (砂の女), Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1962 (serialized in Gunzō January–April 1962); the Japanese first is a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Japanese true first: Suna no onna (砂の女), Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1962 (serialized in Gunzō January–April 1962); the Japanese first is a clothbound hardcover with pictorial jacket, acetate and slipcase, illustrated by Yasuo Kazuki. First US/English edition: Alfred A. Knopf (a Borzoi Book), New York, 1964, translated by E. Dale Saunders with drawings by Machi Abe; bound in teal cloth stamped in brown and gold, the copyright page stating 'FIRST AMERICAN EDITION' (Knopf's practice for a work already published abroad) with no later-printing notation. A later 1964 Knopf printing exists and is distinguished by the absence of that clean first-issue statement. The first UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London, 1964) is bound in green cloth-effect boards lettered in silver.

## Is this the true first?
CORRECTION to census: the UK Secker & Warburg edition is dated 1964, not 1965 — the same year as the Knopf US edition. Original-language true first is Shinchōsha (Tokyo, 1962). Among English editions, Knopf (US) and Secker & Warburg (UK) both appeared in 1964; strict US-over-UK precedence is not documented, so they are best treated as same-year firsts rather than asserting the US precedes the UK.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented for the 1964 firsts; later Vintage/Penguin paperbacks and the second 1964 Knopf printing are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Woman in the Dunes* by Kōbō Abe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-woman-in-the-dunes
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.