Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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Published in London by George Allen & Unwin in 1959; Simon and Schuster issued an American edition in New York the same year, so check for the London imprint. The British hardback has 279 pages, 23 cm, and ends with an appendix, Russell's Philosophy, by Alan Wood. The book predates ISBNs, so the number 0 04 192015 5 attached to some catalogue records cannot appear in a 1959 printing. A second impression is also dated 1959, so check the reverse of the title page for an impression statement. The Unwin Books paperback of 1975 and the Routledge (1993, 1995) and Spokesman (2007) editions are later.
Read the full guide to Allen & Unwin 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.
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Allen & Unwin, London, in 1959, 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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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 …
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