Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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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.
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The true first is American (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1957). The first British edition is Heinemann, London, 1958. A collector calls it the scarcest of the early British Highsmith firsts. Heinemann reprinted it within the year, and reprint copies state 'First published 1958. Reprinted 1958.' on the copyright page, so a 1958 title page date alone does not make a first impression; the first should carry no reprint line.
Before the 1920s. A first edition carries the year of publication on the title page, under the imprint. Reprints either lose that date or gain a notice such as "Second Edition" or "Second Impression", so a first is a copy with a dated title page and no reprint notice.
From the 1920s. The back of the title page carries a printing history. A first edition reads "First published" followed by the year, with no further lines; each later impression or new edition adds its own dated line beneath it.
Read the full guide to Heinemann first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
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.
Heinemann, in 1958, 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.
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