7 Margery Allingham first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Crime at Black Dudley (1929) to The Tiger in the Smoke (1952) across 5 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Margery Allingham title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Margery Allingham copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Crime at Black Dudley — 1929 · JarroldsTrue first: London: Jarrolds, 1929 — the first Albert Campion novel and exceptionally scarce; no widely published set of copyright-page points for the Jarrolds printing is documented in accessible dealer or auction records, so identification rests on the Jarrolds London imprint with the 1929 date. The first American edition, retitled The Black Dudley Murder (Doubleday Doran's Crime Club, New York, 1929), is well…. UK Jarrolds 1929 is the true first. The census note's US year of 1930 is incorrect: Wikipedia and multiple ABAA dealer records date the Crime Club Black Dudley Murder to 1929, the same year. Both editions are collected; because the Jarrolds first is so rare, most copies offered as firsts are the US issue. Doubleday Doran stated 'first edition' on Crime Club firsts, so absence of that statement marks a later printing; UK reissues (e.g., Heinemann, 1967) carry later imprints and dates.
- Mystery Mile — 1930 · JarroldsCONFIRMED. The true first is Jarrolds, London, 1930 — the Library of Congress catalogues it as "London, Jarrolds limited [1930]", the square brackets indicating the date is not printed on the title page, which matches the Classic Crime Fiction checklist's own bracketed [1930] for the Jarrolds titles. The Classic Crime Fiction first-edition checklist records the binding as red cloth lettered in black with a priced…. UK precedes US and the census claim is confirmed. Jarrolds, London, January 1930 (month per the Margery Allingham Society) is the accepted true first; Doubleday, Doran for The Crime Club, Garden City, N.Y., 1930 is the first American edition and is collected in its own right — name both. One residual: no source consulted gives a month for the US Crime Club issue, so UK precedence rests on the January 1930 UK date…. On the US side the Doubleday/Crime Club book-club tells are the ones to check and are well documented: "Book Club Edition" printed at the foot of the front jacket flap or no price at the flap at all, a blind stamp debossed into the rear board near the spine, and a five-digit code in a white block on the jacket rear. Crime Club book-club copies are common for this title and are routinely offered as firsts. The….
- Sweet Danger — 1933 · HeinemannCONFIRMED, WITH THE MONTH CORRECTED. The true first is William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1933; the Library of Congress catalogues it as "London, W. Heinemann, Ltd. [1933]" with the note "Maps on lining-papers". Those endpaper maps are a real, checkable structural point and are double-sourced: the Library of Congress note is independently corroborated by a dealer description of a Heinemann first that refers to "the…. UK precedes US and the census claim is confirmed, but the published month needs correcting against a common error. Heinemann, London, March 1933 is the true first: the Margery Allingham Society gives March 1933, and this is settled independently by a contemporary review of "Sweet Danger. By Margery Allingham. (Heinemann)" in The Spectator of 31 March 1933 — a book reviewed in March cannot have been published in…. The Doubleday/Crime Club book-club tells apply to the US Kingdom of Death issue and are well documented: no price at the front jacket flap or "Book Club Edition" printed there, a blind stamp debossed into the rear board near the spine, and a five-digit code in a white block on the jacket rear. No UK book-club issue points specific to this title are documented in the sources consulted. The Heinemann, London, 1966….
- Death of a Ghost — 1934 · HeinemannCONFIRMED. The true first is William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1934; the Library of Congress catalogues it as "London, W. Heinemann, ltd. [1934]", the square brackets indicating the year is not printed on the title page. Under the Heinemann rule in force from the 1920s, a first states "First published [Year]" or "First published in Great Britain [Year]" on the copyright page and notes later impressions beneath it;…. UK precedes US and the census claim is confirmed. Heinemann, London, February 1934 is the true first — the month is double-sourced, given by both the Margery Allingham Society and Wikipedia's article on the novel, and the Library of Congress's UK record is consistent with it. Doubleday, Doran for The Crime Club, Garden City, N.Y., 1934 is the first American edition and is collected in its own right — name both.…. The Doubleday/Crime Club book-club tells apply to the US issue and are well documented: an unpriced front jacket flap or "Book Club Edition" printed at the flap, a blind stamp debossed into the rear board near the spine, and a five-digit code in a white block on the jacket rear. Note one specific reprint trap recorded by the Library of Congress: the American Reprint Co. issue (New York, 1976) is catalogued….
- The Fashion in Shrouds — 1938 · William HeinemannTrue first is the Heinemann issue, London and Toronto, 1938: original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, publisher's device blind-stamped to the rear board, grey-green endpapers. It collates 3 preliminary leaves plus 437 pages, 21 cm (Library of Congress, LCCN 38022497). Heinemann first impressions of this period carry only the 'First published 1938' line on the title verso; any 'New impression' or dated…. UK precedes. Heinemann, London published in June or July 1938 (Margery Allingham Society); the Doubleday, Doran first American edition followed the same year and was registered later at the Library of Congress (38022497 before 38027954). Both are collected — the Heinemann as the true first, the Doubleday, Doran as the first American — and ABAA/ILAB dealers consistently describe the Doubleday as 'first U.S.…. The Sun Dial Press, Doubleday's cheap-reprint imprint, issued a New York reprint in 1939 from the same 310-page setting as the Doubleday, Doran first American edition (Library of Congress, LCCN 39032049); a Sun Dial imprint on spine or title page is always a reprint. On the US side, a Doubleday, Doran copyright page lacking the 'First Edition' line is a later printing. No book-club printing of the Heinemann issue….
- Traitor's Purse — 1941 · William HeinemannTrue first is the Heinemann issue, London, February 1941: original orange cloth lettered in black, jacket artwork by C.W. Bacon, a priced jacket with the price present at the flap. Heinemann first impressions show only the 'First published 1941' line on the title verso; a 'New impression' or dated reprint line beneath it rules the copy out. The first American edition — Published for the Crime Club by Doubleday,…. UK precedes. Heinemann, London published in February 1941 (Margery Allingham Society); the Crime Club / Doubleday, Doran first American edition followed the same year. Both are collected — the Heinemann as the true first, the Crime Club as the first American. CENSUS NOTE CORRECTED: Wikipedia and sources derived from it state the US edition appeared as 'The Sabotage Murder Mystery'. That is wrong for the…. The 1943 New Avon Library paperback retitled The Sabotage Murder Mystery is the commonest reprint mistaken for the US first; it is a 17 cm paperback carrying the Avon imprint and, per the LC record, garbles the original title as 'Traitor's curse'. On the US hardcover, a Doubleday, Doran copyright page without the 'First Edition' line is a later printing. No book-club printing of the Heinemann issue is documented….
- The Tiger in the Smoke — 1952 · Chatto & WindusLondon: Chatto & Windus, 1952; publisher's red cloth, 272 pp, with the dust jacket designed by Philip 'Pip' Youngman Carter, Allingham's husband. Chatto & Windus placed no first-edition statement on firsts but noted subsequent printings on the verso, so the first printing carries no impression statement; a first-issue jacket is unclipped with the price present at the flap. UK Chatto & Windus 1952 is the collected true first; the first American edition (New York: Doubleday, 1952, black cloth) appeared the same year. Both are collected, with London taking precedence for this, the most celebrated Campion novel. Later Chatto impressions add an impression note to the copyright page; US Doubleday firsts state 'first edition' on the copyright page, and its absence marks a later printing.
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