# Is "The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas" by Madeleine L'Engle a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle (Ariel Books, 1964) is identified by: Ariel Books first edition dated 1964, red cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in an illustrated dust jacket that should retain its original printed price at the flap corner; illustrations by Inga in color and black-and-white throughout, 56 pages, small octavo. US first edition under the Ariel Books imprint (Ariel was the juvenile imprint of Farrar, Straus and Company).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Ariel Books first edition dated 1964, red cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in an illustrated dust jacket that should retain its original printed price at the flap corner; illustrations by Inga in color and black-and-white throughout, 56 pages, small octavo
- An Austin Family picture-story book, published two years after A Wrinkle in Time
- Publisher imprint reads Ariel Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Madeleine L'Engle |
| Publisher | Ariel Books |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Ariel Books first edition dated 1964, red cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in an illustrated dust jacket that should retain its… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Ariel Books first edition dated 1964, red cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in an illustrated dust jacket that should retain its original printed price at the flap corner; illustrations by Inga in color and black-and-white throughout, 56 pages, small octavo. An Austin Family picture-story book, published two years after A Wrinkle in Time.

## Is this the true first?
US first edition under the Ariel Books imprint (Ariel was the juvenile imprint of Farrar, Straus and Company). No earlier UK or other edition precedes it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later reprints and the modern Farrar reissue (illustrated by Jill Weber) lack the 1964 red cloth binding and the original Inga-illustrated jacket; any book-club or reissue copy lacks the original printed jacket price.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas* by Madeleine L'Engle a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-twenty-four-days-before-christmas
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.