The Amityville Horror

The true first is the US edition: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1977 (published September 1977) — the census claim is confirmed. No competing UK or original-language edition holds precedence; the book was written in English and first issued in the United States. The census is also right about the trap: the ubiquitous Bantam mass-market paperbacks (from 1978) are reprints, not firsts, as are the later Suntup Editions fine-press issues — all "first thus" at best. Only the Prentice-Hall hardcover with the complete number line is the first.