Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
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The true first edition is the Dial Press edition, New York, 1967, illustrated by Mercer Mayer. The first British edition was published by J. M. Dent in London in 1969 and is easy to tell apart: it has new illustrations by Fritz Wegner, credited on the title page, and its catalogue record notes that the book was first published by Dial in New York in 1967. Open Library gives about 180 pages. It carries the Standard Book Number 460 05758 8 (ISBN 0460057588), which predates 13-digit ISBNs. Dent reissued it in London in 1976 as a paperback (ISBN 0460027204); that is a later edition, not the first.
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.
Dent, London, in 1969, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 November 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 …
Read the guide →