The Apple Tree: A Short Novel and Some Stories

Victor Gollancz (London), 1952, is the true first, and it is the first book appearance of "The Birds" — the census claim is confirmed. The American edition is not a simple retitling and both are collected: Doubleday (Garden City), 1953, appeared as "Kiss Me Again, Stranger: A Collection of Eight Stories, Long and Short" and is expanded, adding "The Split Second" and "No Motive." The 1952 memorandum of agreement between du Maurier and Gollancz covered British Commonwealth rights only, with Doubleday holding the United States separately, which is why the two editions differ in contents rather than merely in name. Doubleday's practice in this period was to state "First Edition" on the copyright page and to drop the statement on later printings, but dealer cataloguing of this particular title is inconsistent on the point, so a US copy should be verified rather than assumed. A third trap: Penguin's 1963 retitling as "The Birds and Other Stories" is this same collection under a new name and is a paperback reissue, never a first.