The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini ćuprija)

The collectible true first is the 1945 Serbo-Croatian original: Na Drini ćuprija, Prosveta, Belgrade, March 1945 (written by Andrić in German-occupied Belgrade between July 1942 and December 1943). The first English translation, by Lovett F. Edwards, appeared in 1959: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London) published the first UK / first English-language edition (forest-green cloth, orange spine lettering), and The Macmillan Company (New York) issued the first American edition the same year. Dealers consistently treat the London Allen & Unwin printing as preceding the Macmillan release, but same-year US/UK precedence is not documented to the month, so confirm the imprint before asserting priority. Both English editions appeared two years before Andrić's 1961 Nobel Prize.