Is My Copy of The Children of Green Knowe a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1954
• Octavo, 157 pages, with a monochrome frontispiece and five further plates plus in-text drawings — pen-and-ink and scraperboard work by the author's son Peter Boston, which many later paperback and some later hardcover editions omit entirely
• Publisher's green cloth lettered in blue at the spine
• Publisher's pictorial dust wrapper, priced at the flap on unclipped copies
• Faber's house style for the year sets the imprint statement in roman numerals — "First published in mcmliv by Faber and Faber Limited 24 Russell Square London W.C.1" — with later impressions adding a reprint line beneath it; this wording is confirmed as Faber's 1954 practice (it is the recorded statement in Faber books of that year) rather than transcribed from a copy of this title, so treat it as house practice pending a direct collation
• A commended runner-up for the 1954 Carnegie Medal and the first of the six Green Knowe books

How Faber and Faber marked a first edition

• Prior to 1968 the year was set in ROMAN NUMERALS (e.g. 'First published in mcmliv'); from 1968 onward Arabic numerals were used — a key dating tell

Full Faber and Faber first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The UK Faber 1954 edition is the true first. The first American edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955) follows a year later, retains the Peter Boston illustrations and also collates 157 pages; it is collected as the American first but carries no priority. Note the series retitling trap: Boston's second book, The Chimneys of Green Knowe (Faber, 1958), was issued by Harcourt as Treasure of Green Knowe — the American retitling applies to that volume, not to this one, so a "Treasure of Green Knowe" is not this book under another name.P-044154

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the Faber first is documented in the sources consulted. The working traps are later Faber impressions (caught by the reprint line added under the roman-numeral imprint statement), the Harcourt 1955 American edition offered as a "first," the cheap later reprints and paperbacks that drop the Peter Boston illustrations altogether, and the recent Faber 70th-anniversary illustrated edition, which restores the original artwork and can mislead at a glance.P-044155

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Children of Green Knowe a first edition?

A first edition of The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston (Faber and Faber) is identified by: London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1954.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The UK Faber 1954 edition is the true first.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue of the Faber first is documented in the sources consulted. The working traps are later Faber impressions (caught by the reprint line added under the roman-numeral imprint statement), the Harcourt 1955 American edition offered as a "first," the cheap later reprints and paperbacks that drop the Peter Boston illustrations altogether, and the recent Faber 70th-anniversary illustrated edition, which restores the original artwork and can mislead at a glance.

I have a first edition of The Children of Green Knowe — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.