NMLP P-044065 · True-first precedence · minted 2026-07-19
The Blue Fairy Book
Andrew Lang (ed.) · Longmans, Green and Co. (London) · 1889
UK Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1889 is the true first, and the census claim is correct. The contemporaneous Longmans New York imprint (11 East 16th St, which appears on the large-paper title) is the publisher's own American branch issue of the same London printing rather than a separate American edition, so there is no genuine UK-vs-US precedence contest here. Both the trade issue and the large-paper issue are 1889 firsts; the large paper is the deluxe issue and is textually the fuller of the two by virtue of the extra preface. This is the first of the twelve 'coloured' Fairy Books and the scarcest of the run.
Full identification guide for this title →
New Mexico Literacy Project — True-first precedence NMLP P-044065 for "The Blue Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang (ed.) (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-044065, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).