# Is "The Case of the Perjured Parrot" by Erle Stanley Gardner a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Case of the Perjured Parrot by Erle Stanley Gardner (William Morrow, 1939) is identified by: First published by William Morrow and Company, New York, in 1939; a Perry Mason novel. The US William Morrow edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First published by William Morrow and Company, New York, in 1939; a Perry Mason novel
- The true first is the Morrow imprint with no later reprint publisher named on the title page
- The publisher's binding is black cloth with a green band running across the spine and upper cover
- The first-issue pictorial dust jacket carries the printed price on the rear flap (an amount should be present, unclipped), and the jacket can be dated by the list of Gardner/Morrow titles printed on the rear panel and flaps; a jacket advertising later titles indicates a later state
- Publisher imprint reads William Morrow
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erle Stanley Gardner |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
| Year | 1939 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First published by William Morrow and Company, New York, in 1939; a Perry Mason novel |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First published by William Morrow and Company, New York, in 1939; a Perry Mason novel. The true first is the Morrow imprint with no later reprint publisher named on the title page. The publisher's binding is black cloth with a green band running across the spine and upper cover. The first-issue pictorial dust jacket carries the printed price on the rear flap (an amount should be present, unclipped), and the jacket can be dated by the list of Gardner/Morrow titles printed on the rear panel and flaps; a jacket advertising later titles indicates a later state.

## Is this the true first?
The US William Morrow edition is the true first. There is no earlier UK issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later reprints appeared under Grosset & Dunlap and Triangle Books imprints; these name the reprint publisher and are reprints, not first editions.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Case of the Perjured Parrot* by Erle Stanley Gardner a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-case-of-the-perjured-parrot
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.