Finn Family Moomintroll (Trollkarlens hatt)

The Swedish-language Finnish edition — Schildts, Helsingfors, 1948 — is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed: Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn and her Moomin firsts are Swedish-language Finnish imprints. Trollkarlens hatt is the THIRD Moomin book, not the first (Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen, 1945, precedes it, as does Kometjakten, 1946) — the census note is correct on this. The first English edition is Ernest Benn, London, 1950, translated by Elizabeth Portch; it was Benn's choice to launch the series with this title, and it was marketed as the series opener in English until the 1980s, which is why it is widely and wrongly taken for the first Moomin book. Both the Schildts 1948 and the Benn 1950 are collected. The first US appearance is under a different title — The Happy Moomins, 1951 — and the US publisher could not be confirmed.