The Magic Christian

Census claim CONFIRMED: the true first is the UK — André Deutsch, London, 1959 — with Random House, New York, 1960 following as the first American edition. Southern was an American author whose early books were published first in Britain by Deutsch, so the ordinary US-first assumption is wrong here. Both editions are collected and should be named separately: Deutsch 1959 is the first edition; Random House 1960 is the first American edition. One AI-generated encyclopedia source asserts a Random House 1959 US first — this is not supported by any dealer, auction, or bibliographic record consulted and should be disregarded.