# Is "Where's Wally?" by Martin Handford a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Where's Wally? by Martin Handford (Walker Books, London, 1987) is identified by: UK Walker Books 1987 first printing, large quarto in pictorial boards. UK Walker Books, London, 1987 precedes and is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- UK Walker Books 1987 first printing, large quarto in pictorial boards
- Dealers record it simply as "first edition, first printing of the Walker Books in 1987" without citing a printing statement or number line, so the reliable identification is the 1987 Walker imprint combined with the original, unrevised artwork
- The state points are pictorial and textual: the original issue's beach spread shows the sunbather whose bikini top has come off, with a boy throwing ice cream at her back and a small area of exposed breast (later printings and editions give her a top and cover it); the spreads are titled "The Railway Station" and "Camp Site" in the original, retitled "The Train Station" and "Campsite" from the second edition; and the campsite figure emerging from the tent is unclothed, given white underwear in the 1997 special edition
- Publication date records conflict slightly — 25 June 1987 and September 1987 are both cited — so the day-level date is not settled
- Publisher imprint reads Walker Books, London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Martin Handford |
| Publisher | Walker Books, London |
| Year | 1987 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | UK Walker Books 1987 first printing, large quarto in pictorial boards |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
UK Walker Books 1987 first printing, large quarto in pictorial boards. Dealers record it simply as "first edition, first printing of the Walker Books in 1987" without citing a printing statement or number line, so the reliable identification is the 1987 Walker imprint combined with the original, unrevised artwork. The state points are pictorial and textual: the original issue's beach spread shows the sunbather whose bikini top has come off, with a boy throwing ice cream at her back and a small area of exposed breast (later printings and editions give her a top and cover it); the spreads are titled "The Railway Station" and "Camp Site" in the original, retitled "The Train Station" and "Campsite" from the second edition; and the campsite figure emerging from the tent is unclothed, given white underwear in the 1997 special edition. Publication date records conflict slightly — 25 June 1987 and September 1987 are both cited — so the day-level date is not settled.

## Is this the true first?
UK Walker Books, London, 1987 precedes and is the true first. The American edition is the retitled Where's Waldo?, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1987 (ISBN 0-316-34293-9), confirmed at 1987 by independent library catalogue records; the rename was made because a Little, Brown executive disliked "Wally." It is a first American edition of the same book, not a true first, but it is separately and seriously collected and should be named alongside the Walker. The census claim is confirmed, including the Little, Brown 1987 date (one secondary summary gives 1988; library cataloguing supports 1987). The many localised names elsewhere — Charlie in France, Walter in Germany, Ubaldo in Italy — are translations, not competing firsts.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Walker and Little, Brown printings, the 1997 special editions, and the 2014 "Deluxe Edition" — which revises original artwork to remove or modify cultural stereotypes, smoking, substance use, nudity and violence — are reprints; the deluxe and anniversary issues are first thus only. Because the censored spreads are the defining tell, any copy showing the clothed sunbather or the retitled "Train Station"/"Campsite" spreads is not a first printing regardless of the date on the title page. No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Where's Wally?* by Martin Handford a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/wheres-wally
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.