# Is "Titus Groan" by Mervyn Peake a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946) is identified by: First printing was 2,000 copies (Peake in Print A4a), which sold quickly enough that a second impression followed within the same year. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing was 2,000 copies (Peake in Print A4a), which sold quickly enough that a second impression followed within the same year
- Page [1] reads 'THE LIFE OF TITUS GROAN'
- The title page carries a vignette (22 x 47mm) of a crown — the same crown used on the jacket, but with the chains in different positions and the bird looking right
- The half-title at p.[15] reads 'Part One / GORMENGHAST' above the quotation from Bunyan's verse Apology prefacing Pilgrim's Progress
- The first issue is bound in bright red cloth of FINE linen grain, 220 x 140mm, lettered in gilt across the spine; the second impression is a coarser-grained scarlet-vermilion in the same format, so grain — not colour alone — is the binding test
- The jacket is by Peake, lettered in red on the front panel and in black across the spine
- Publisher imprint reads Eyre & Spottiswoode

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mervyn Peake |
| Publisher | Eyre & Spottiswoode |
| Year | 1946 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing was 2,000 copies (Peake in Print A4a), which sold quickly enough that a second impression followed within the same year |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing was 2,000 copies (Peake in Print A4a), which sold quickly enough that a second impression followed within the same year. Page [1] reads 'THE LIFE OF TITUS GROAN'. The title page carries a vignette (22 x 47mm) of a crown — the same crown used on the jacket, but with the chains in different positions and the bird looking right. The half-title at p.[15] reads 'Part One / GORMENGHAST' above the quotation from Bunyan's verse Apology prefacing Pilgrim's Progress. The first issue is bound in bright red cloth of FINE linen grain, 220 x 140mm, lettered in gilt across the spine; the second impression is a coarser-grained scarlet-vermilion in the same format, so grain — not colour alone — is the binding test. The jacket is by Peake, lettered in red on the front panel and in black across the spine. First-state jacket carries the publisher's blurb on the front flap with the price present at the flap; the second-issue jacket replaces that blurb with extracts from six reviews plus a 'Second impression' line.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. The true first is Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, March 1946 (UK reviews run from 22 March 1946). The Reynal & Hitchcock, New York edition of the same year does not precede it — Peake in Print designates it 'Second edition; first American' (A4b). Both editions are collected. The US edition is readily distinguished: greeny-grey cloth 215 x 143mm lettered in red across the spine; title page reading 'Titus / Groan / a gothic novel by / Mervyn / Peake' — the 'a gothic novel' subtitle is US-only, confirming the census note; copyright notice on the title verso naming 'Mervyn Laurence Peake'; the E&S 'Part One: Gormenghast' leaf omitted in favour of a dedication 'For / Maeve' on p.[v], with the Bunyan quotation moved after the contents; a wholly different Peake jacket with a Graham Greene blurb on the front flap and a Derek Sayer photograph of Peake on the back.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The principal later-issue tell is the 1946 second impression: coarse-grained cloth in place of the first issue's fine linen grain, and a jacket front flap on which review extracts and a 'Second impression' statement replace the original blurb. First-thus traps: Weybright & Talley, New York 1967 (A4c, dark blue cloth 233 x 152mm) adds the series line 'The Gormenghast Trilogy: Volume One' and wears a Bob Pepper jacket forming one panel of a three-volume triptych; the Ballantine 1968 paperback continues that triptych. No book-club edition is documented for the 1946 first in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Titus Groan* by Mervyn Peake a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/titus-groan
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.