# Is "Zuleika Dobson" by Max Beerbohm a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (William Heinemann, 1911) is identified by: True first: London, William Heinemann, published 26 October 1911. The Heinemann London 1911 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: London, William Heinemann, published 26 October 1911
- Octavo, original brown cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; top edge gilt, the fore and lower edges left untrimmed ('rag-edged'); approximately 350 pp
- Following Heinemann's house practice of the period the first edition carries NO printed edition or impression statement — the first is identified by the absence of any later-printing notice rather than by a number line
- The original dust jacket is famously rare (the Beerbohm bibliographer Mark Samuels Lasner has recorded only about five jacketed copies), so identification rests on the binding and edge points, not the jacket
- Brown cloth, edge treatment and the unstated-first convention are corroborated across multiple independent dealer descriptions
- Publisher imprint reads William Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Max Beerbohm |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Year | 1911 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: London, William Heinemann, published 26 October 1911 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first: London, William Heinemann, published 26 October 1911. Octavo, original brown cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; top edge gilt, the fore and lower edges left untrimmed ('rag-edged'); approximately 350 pp. Following Heinemann's house practice of the period the first edition carries NO printed edition or impression statement — the first is identified by the absence of any later-printing notice rather than by a number line. The original dust jacket is famously rare (the Beerbohm bibliographer Mark Samuels Lasner has recorded only about five jacketed copies), so identification rests on the binding and edge points, not the jacket. Brown cloth, edge treatment and the unstated-first convention are corroborated across multiple independent dealer descriptions.

## Is this the true first?
The Heinemann London 1911 edition is the true first. The first American edition followed from the John Lane Company, New York, in 1912 and is collected as the first American issue only, not the true first. Later Modern Library / Boni & Liveright printings and the 1922 illustrated edition are much later reprints.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No 1911 book-club issue. Later Heinemann reprints, the 1922 illustrated edition, the 1912 John Lane US issue, and Modern Library reprints are all later — any stated later impression or later-printing notice rules out the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Zuleika Dobson* by Max Beerbohm a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/zuleika-dobson
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.