Millions of Cats

The census claim is confirmed: New York: Coward-McCann, 1928 is the true first. This is a genuine American first with no earlier foreign-language or British precedent — Gág wrote and illustrated the book in English, so there is no original-language trap on this title. The first British edition is London: Faber & Faber, 1929, which appeared in Faber's very first catalogue in the firm's founding year; it is a separate edition collected in its own right and is not the first. The Newbery Honor (1929) and the standing description of the book as the oldest American picture book continuously in print are reputational facts, not identification points, and neither appears on or distinguishes the first printing.