# Is "The Farewell Party" by Milan Kundera a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Farewell Party by Milan Kundera (Alfred A. Knopf, 1976) is identified by: First printing, Alfred A. First English-language edition of Valcik na rozloučenou.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976; translated from the Czech by Peter Kussi
- Bound in cornflower-blue quarter cloth over white paper boards, stamped in blue to the front board and silver to the spine, with a pink topstain and machine-deckle fore-edge
- Pictorial dust jacket designed by Lidia Ferrara and illustrated by Charles Shields; the first-issue jacket should retain its printed price
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Milan Kundera |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year | 1976 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976; translated from the Czech by Peter Kussi |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976; translated from the Czech by Peter Kussi. Bound in cornflower-blue quarter cloth over white paper boards, stamped in blue to the front board and silver to the spine, with a pink topstain and machine-deckle fore-edge. Pictorial dust jacket designed by Lidia Ferrara and illustrated by Charles Shields; the first-issue jacket should retain its printed price.

## Is this the true first?
First English-language edition of Valcik na rozloučenou. Kussi's rendering was later revised/retranslated and reissued as The Farewell Waltz.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Confirm the true first by the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page; no reliable single blind-stamp point is documented.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Farewell Party* by Milan Kundera a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-farewell-party
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.