The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

The US New Directions 1941 edition is the true first — confirmed. This is Nabokov's first novel written in English (begun Paris, December 1938; finished January 1939), so no Russian original precedes it and no original-language precedence question arises. The first British edition is Editions Poetry London (PL), December 1945 (Juliar A21.2): plum cloth over boards, gilt spine stamping running across within a scrollwork border, thin tan paper jacket; the copyright page reads "First published in 1945 by PL Editions Poetry London... Produced in Complete Conformity with the Authorised Economy Standards". Juliar notes uncertain evidence it may in fact have been issued March 1946. Both the New Directions 1941 and the Editions Poetry London 1945 are collected; the 1941 has precedence. FIRST-THUS TRAP: the 1959 New Directions reissue (Juliar A21.3) is not a first edition — its copyright page carries BOTH "COPYRIGHT BY NEW DIRECTIONS, 1941" and "COPYRIGHT © 1959 BY NEW DIRECTIONS" plus LC card number 59-9489, it has no colophon, and it adds introductory matter (pp. vii-xv).