The Assistant

The census claim is confirmed. The US Farrar, Straus and Cudahy 1957 edition is the true first. The first UK edition is Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1959 — corroborated by the Oregon State University Special Collections Malamud catalogue, which records the author's own copy — and is preceded by the American issue by two years. Do not confuse this title's straightforward precedence with the contested two-issue situation of Malamud's next book, The Magic Barrel (1958).