Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
Buy a copy: eBay
No sales recorded yet
We value a printing from verified sales of that exact printing, and none of the first impression has come to auction in our records so far. The chart and the value by condition appear here as soon as one does.
Pro members with this book on their wantlist are emailed when it sells under their price.
Gandhi wrote the book in Gujarati and it first appeared in two volumes in 1927 and 1929; the English text is Mahadev Desai's translation. Public Affairs Press of Washington published the first United States edition in 1948. The first British edition is the one-volume An Autobiography: the story of my experiments with truth, published in London by Phoenix Press in 1949, collating xiv, 420 pages. Jonathan Cape later reissued the translation, and its 1966 printing states that the book was first published in Great Britain in 1949; Cape copies with an ISBN are later. A catalogue entry dating a Phoenix Press edition to 1944 is garbled throughout and is not supported.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
Phoenix Press, London, in 1949, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
For most books published since the 1920s, the original dust jacket carries a large share of the value, often most …
Read the guide →7 min readTo identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
Read the guide →