Len Deighton First Editions

• The IPCRESS File — 1962 · Hodder & StoughtonFirst edition, first impression: copyright page reads 'First printed 1962' with no later-impression statement (second impressions, also 1962, add 'Second impression 1962'). Publisher's orange cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, 224 pages. The Raymond Hawkey-designed photographic dust jacket is the key point: the first-issue jacket is laminated, carries the printed price at the front flap, and has NO review…. True first is the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition, London, 1962 (Deighton's debut). The first American edition followed from Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963. Both are collected; the Hodder edition holds clear precedence. Second-impression 1962 copies with reviews on the jacket flap are routinely misdescribed as firsts — the flap reviews and the copyright-page impression line are the tells.
• Horse Under Water — 1963 · Jonathan CapeCENSUS DETAIL CORRECTED — the famous crossword is on the ENDPAPERS, not the dust jacket. The first impression has pictorial crossword endpapers, the grid on the left-hand leaf and the clues largely on the right, repeated at both front and back; later impressions substitute plain black endpapers. The true first was also issued with a loosely inserted blank crossword slip, the clues for which are the ones printed…. Census claim on precedence confirmed, the jacket detail corrected as above. Jonathan Cape (London), published 21 October 1963, is the true first; there was no American edition until G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York) issued it in 1968, stated as the first American edition. One genuine complication must be recorded rather than smoothed over: roughly 500 copies were sent out ahead of publication to reviewers and trade…. Later Cape impressions have plain black endpapers and are stated on the copyright page. Many sellers omit the endpaper point entirely and a number of copies are offered as true firsts on the strength of the Cape imprint and 1963 date alone; some go further and assert the plain black endpaper copy is the true first. Treat any description that does not address the endpapers as unverified. The Putnam 1968 is the….
• Funeral in Berlin — 1964 · Jonathan CapeCape firsts state "First published 1964" on the copyright page with no later impression line; Cape noted subsequent printings there, so any added impression statement rules out a first. Bound in publisher's black cloth, gilt titling to the spine, with a blue/grey rubber-stamp "office" motif and a blind-blocked "downgraded to unclassified" box to the upper board. The endpapers are the decisive point:…. The UK edition is the true first: Jonathan Cape, London, 17 September 1964. The first American edition followed from G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1965, and is collected in its own right, but it is a first American edition only — the Cape printing precedes it by roughly a year. The two are physically unmistakable: the Putnam book has white boards with a black spine and silver lettering, red endpapers, and a grey…. Documented reprint tell: the SS-membership-list endpapers were not reproduced after the Cape first, so plain or substituted endpapers indicate a later edition. Because Cape noted subsequent impressions on the copyright page, a stated later impression is decisive on its own. UK book-club reprints (Book Club Associates and similar) are the usual trap and run to the standard signals — lighter boards and bulkier,….
• Billion-Dollar Brain — 1966 · G.P. Putnam's SonsCENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED: the US edition, not the UK, is the true first. The Putnam first is a 320pp 8vo in red cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and plain endpapers, published 11 January 1966 in a stated run of 20,000 copies; the Raymond Hawkey jacket exists in a blue variant. Putnam's pre-1985 practice was to make no first-printing statement while noting subsequent impressions, so a first printing is…. Census claim REFUTED — precedence runs the other way. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 11 January 1966 PRECEDES Jonathan Cape, London, 31 March 1966 by roughly eleven weeks. This is the exception among the early Deighton titles, where the Cape edition is normally the first. Both editions are collected: the Putnam is the true first (and the first appearance anywhere), while the Cape is the first British edition and…. A US book-club issue exists and is common: it is blind-stamped or dot-marked to the rear board, lacks the price at the jacket flap, is slightly smaller than the trade issue, and is bulked on cheaper paper. Because the Cape edition post-dates the Putnam, a Cape copy is not a book-club tell but is simply a later (British first) edition. Later Cape impressions add an impression line under the "First published 1966"….
• SS-GB — 1978 · Jonathan CapeCape firsts state "First published 1978" on the copyright page, with subsequent impressions noted there — a stated later impression rules out a first. Bound in black boards with silver blocking to the spine, red endpapers, and a dark pink/red stained top edge as issued; an unfaded top edge is the condition point dealers routinely cite. Raymond Hawkey's jacket carries his Hitler-head 1941 postage-stamp design to…. The UK edition is the true first: Jonathan Cape, London, 24 August 1978. The first American edition is Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 26 February 1979 (ISBN 0-394-50409-7, 343/344pp), which is self-identifying because Knopf has consistently stated "First Edition" on the copyright page since the mid-1930s and removes the line on later printings; the Knopf first is reported to have rough-cut page edges. Both editions…. The booklet of mock 1941 Hitler-head postage stamps is trade-and-press promotional ephemera issued in advance of publication; many were recalled or destroyed after Royal Mail objected. It is a supplied-with extra, not a point of issue — a first-edition copy is still a first without it, and its presence does not make a later printing a first. A sepia promotional postcard reproducing the Whitehall image stands on….
• Berlin Game — 1983 · HutchinsonHutchinson firsts state "First published 1983" (or "First published in Great Britain 1983") on the copyright page; Hutchinson noted subsequent printings and did not add a number row until the late 1980s, so a genuine 1983 Hutchinson first shows the first-published line and no number line. Bound in black boards with silver embossing to the spine and red endpapers and pastedowns. The jacket carries the "corrupted…. The UK edition is the true first: Hutchinson, London, 13 October 1983 — the opening volume of the Game, Set & Match trilogy, followed by Mexico Set (Hutchinson, 22 October 1984) and London Match (1985). The first American edition is Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 5 January 1984 (ISBN 0394534077), self-identifying by Knopf's stated "First Edition" on the copyright page. The Hutchinson edition precedes by roughly three…. The Deighton Dossier records a Hutchinson first print run of 40,000 copies, so first editions are readily found and any copy described as rare should be treated sceptically. No specific book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The two live traps are the yellow-wrappered Hutchinson proof being conflated with the first edition, and UK book-club reprints, which run to the standard signals — no price….

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