Kiss Me, Deadly

US E. P. Dutton (New York) 1952 is the true first edition; the census claim is confirmed. The first British edition followed — Arthur Barker, London, 1953, a shorter setting at roughly 191-192 pp. — and is collected as the first UK edition only, not as the true first. Signet and later paperback issues, and printings following Robert Aldrich's 1955 film adaptation, are reprints or "first thus" traps. Note the comma in the book title ("Kiss Me, Deadly") against the film's uncommaed "Kiss Me Deadly" — a frequent cataloguing discrepancy that can mask or surface listings.