Ripley's Game

CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The census recorded Knopf (New York) 1974 as the true first on an assumption of near-simultaneity with US priority; this is wrong. Heinemann published in London on 11 March 1974, some two months ahead of Knopf's May 1974 issue, and the Knopf copyright page's own "First American Edition" statement concedes the precedence. The Heinemann is therefore the true first edition; the Knopf 1974 is the first American edition and is collected in its own right, both for the Halverson jacket and as the first appearance of the Americanised text. Separately, the census is right that the inventory conflates this title with The Talented Mr. Ripley — that is a different and earlier novel with its own edition history and must not share a record or its points.