# Is "The Girl with the Long Green Heart" by Lawrence Block a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block (Gold Medal, 1965) is identified by: Mass-market paperback original, Gold Medal (Fawcett) K1555, 1965. The true first is the 1965 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback original (K1555), a standalone con-artist caper novel with no prior hardcover.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Mass-market paperback original, Gold Medal (Fawcett) K1555, 1965
- Issued in pictorial wrappers with no dust jacket, as was standard for Gold Medal originals of the period
- The first printing carries the Gold Medal catalogue number K1555 with the cover price present and no additional printing statement or reprint number indicating a later Gold Medal impression
- Publisher imprint reads Gold Medal
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lawrence Block |
| Publisher | Gold Medal |
| Year | 1965 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Mass-market paperback original, Gold Medal (Fawcett) K1555, 1965 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Mass-market paperback original, Gold Medal (Fawcett) K1555, 1965. Issued in pictorial wrappers with no dust jacket, as was standard for Gold Medal originals of the period. The first printing carries the Gold Medal catalogue number K1555 with the cover price present and no additional printing statement or reprint number indicating a later Gold Medal impression.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the 1965 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback original (K1555), a standalone con-artist caper novel with no prior hardcover.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Not a book-club title. Later reprinted by Hard Case Crime in 2005 with new cover art by Robert McGinnis; that reprint is a later edition, not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Girl with the Long Green Heart* by Lawrence Block a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-girl-with-the-long-green-heart
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.