# Is "Two Plays (The Shadow of a Gunman; Juno and the Paycock)" by Sean O'Casey a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Two Plays (The Shadow of a Gunman; Juno and the Paycock) by Sean O'Casey (Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, 1925) is identified by: True first: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, 1925 — O'Casey's first book and the first book appearance of both plays. London Macmillan and Co., Ltd.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, 1925 — O'Casey's first book and the first book appearance of both plays
- Bound in blue/blue-green paper-covered boards with a light-brown cloth/linen backstrip and printed paper title labels (title within a paper frame on the upper cover and spine), edges untrimmed, roughly v + 199 pp — the same board-and-label format as the 1926 Plough and the Stars
- TRAP: copies dated 1927 (and later) that carry a frontispiece portrait of O'Casey by Augustus John are a later Macmillan reissue, NOT the 1925 first — the printed 1927 title-page date is the tell and the John portrait is absent from the true first
- Note that Macmillan produced more than one 1925 printing in this same binding style, and the sources consulted do NOT isolate a clean point separating a first-1925 from a second-1925 printing, so binding alone should not be relied on to prove first printing within 1925
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sean O'Casey |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London |
| Year | 1925 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, 1925 — O'Casey's first book and the first book appearance of both plays |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, 1925 — O'Casey's first book and the first book appearance of both plays. Bound in blue/blue-green paper-covered boards with a light-brown cloth/linen backstrip and printed paper title labels (title within a paper frame on the upper cover and spine), edges untrimmed, roughly v + 199 pp — the same board-and-label format as the 1926 Plough and the Stars. TRAP: copies dated 1927 (and later) that carry a frontispiece portrait of O'Casey by Augustus John are a later Macmillan reissue, NOT the 1925 first — the printed 1927 title-page date is the tell and the John portrait is absent from the true first. Note that Macmillan produced more than one 1925 printing in this same binding style, and the sources consulted do NOT isolate a clean point separating a first-1925 from a second-1925 printing, so binding alone should not be relied on to prove first printing within 1925.

## Is this the true first?
London Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 1925 is the true first; the US issue (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1925) is the first American and follows the London edition. Written in English, no translation involved. Census direction (London first, New York follows) confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Macmillan printings — including 1927-dated copies with the Augustus John frontispiece portrait — are reissues, not the first. No dedicated book-club edition documented.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Two Plays (The Shadow of a Gunman; Juno and the Paycock)* by Sean O'Casey a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/two-plays-the-shadow-of-a-gunman-juno-and-the-paycock
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.