Mary Poppins

The census claim that Gerald Howe, London, 1934 is the true first is upheld on trade consensus rather than on a dated citation. Whitmore Rare Books catalogues the Howe printing simply as the first edition, Doyle offered it as 'the first edition of the first Mary Poppins book', Tennants catalogued it as the first edition, and every Reynal & Hitchcock copy consulted is catalogued as the first AMERICAN edition - a term of art conceding it is not the true first. However, no source consulted supplies a month- or day-level publication date for either 1934 issue, so the ordering is the settled trade position and not a proven date gap; readers should treat it as such. Both editions are collected. The first American edition is Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1934, bound in publisher's blue cloth stamped in darker blue, illustrated with the same 27 Mary Shepard line cuts, and issued in a priced jacket with the price present at the flap.