A Fine and Private Place

US first, and the census claim on precedence is correct: The Viking Press, New York, 1960, is the true first — Beagle was American and Viking was his US publisher. The census's date for the UK is wrong, however: Frederick Muller Ltd., London, published the first UK hardcover in 1960, not 1961. The Muller printing is the English first and is collected separately in its own right — an uncorrected proof of it is recorded and described by the offering dealer as the only one they had seen — but it does not precede Viking. Both editions are collected; name them as Viking (New York, 1960) for the true first and Muller (London, 1960) for the English first. The Corgi paperback (1963) and the later Tachyon Publications reissue are 'first thus' only.