Bech: A Book

US Alfred A. Knopf (New York) 1970 is the true first — Updike's home-publisher issue, and the first appearance of the Henry Bech sequence. The census claim is confirmed on publisher and year. The first UK edition is André Deutsch, London, also 1970; standard author bibliographies list the book as "New York, Knopf, and London, Deutsch, 1970." The sources consulted do not give the exact Deutsch release date, so describe it as the first UK edition following the Knopf rather than as a reprint. Both are collected; the Knopf carries precedence.