# Is "After Magritte" by Tom Stoppard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of After Magritte by Tom Stoppard (Faber and Faber, 1971) is identified by: Faber and Faber, London, 1971. UK Faber first, 1971.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Faber and Faber, London, 1971
- Paperback original, Crown 8vo (roughly 199 by 113 mm), issued in stiff card wrappers with French flaps, printed in yellow and black
- 47 pages, described as 'A Play in One Act.' Not published in a clothbound issue, so the wrappered state is the only first form
- The genuine 1971 first printing carries the Faber imprint on the title page with no reference to a later impression; the 1973 reprint is a distinct second printing
- Publisher imprint reads Faber and Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Stoppard |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Faber and Faber, London, 1971 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Faber and Faber, London, 1971. Paperback original, Crown 8vo (roughly 199 by 113 mm), issued in stiff card wrappers with French flaps, printed in yellow and black; 47 pages, described as 'A Play in One Act.' Not published in a clothbound issue, so the wrappered state is the only first form. The genuine 1971 first printing carries the Faber imprint on the title page with no reference to a later impression; the 1973 reprint is a distinct second printing.

## Is this the true first?
UK Faber first, 1971. Issued only in stiff card wrappers with French flaps; no hardback state exists. A 1973 Faber paperback is a second printing, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition. Distinguish the 1971 first printing from the 1973 second printing, which reprints the same wrappered format.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *After Magritte* by Tom Stoppard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/after-magritte
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.