# Is "Surfeit of Lampreys (US: Death of a Peer)" by Ngaio Marsh a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Surfeit of Lampreys (US: Death of a Peer) by Ngaio Marsh (Collins, 1941) is identified by: The true first is the US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, edition titled Death of a Peer, published June 1940, which PRECEDES the UK Collins (The Crime Club) edition titled Surfeit of Lampreys, published 1941. The true first is the US Little, Brown edition titled Death of a Peer (Boston, June 1940), which precedes the UK Collins Surfeit of Lampreys (1941).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, edition titled Death of a Peer, published June 1940, which PRECEDES the UK Collins (The Crime Club) edition titled Surfeit of Lampreys, published 1941
- Tenth Alleyn novel
- The reversal of the usual UK-first pattern is confirmed by Marsh's own published bibliography and by Little, Brown's June 1940 Boston imprint dating
- Publisher imprint reads Collins
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ngaio Marsh |
| Publisher | Collins |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, edition titled Death of a Peer, published June 1940, which PRECEDES the UK… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first is the US Little, Brown and Company, Boston, edition titled Death of a Peer, published June 1940, which PRECEDES the UK Collins (The Crime Club) edition titled Surfeit of Lampreys, published 1941. Tenth Alleyn novel. The reversal of the usual UK-first pattern is confirmed by Marsh's own published bibliography and by Little, Brown's June 1940 Boston imprint dating.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the US Little, Brown edition titled Death of a Peer (Boston, June 1940), which precedes the UK Collins Surfeit of Lampreys (1941). This precedence is confirmed by the author's bibliography and by dealer and Biblio records dating Death of a Peer to 1940.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1941 UK Collins Surfeit of Lampreys follows the 1940 US Death of a Peer; the two carry different titles for the same text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Surfeit of Lampreys (US: Death of a Peer)* by Ngaio Marsh a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/surfeit-of-lampreys-us-death-of-a-peer
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.