Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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Juster's novel, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, was first published in New York in 1961 by Epstein and Carroll, distributed by Random House, and appeared in Britain in 1962. The first British edition is the Collins hardback, London, 1962, illustrated with Feiffer's line drawings, bound in blue cloth with map endpapers and issued in a pictorial dust jacket. Some dealers misdate it to 1961 by confusion with the American first, so check for Collins and 1962. Collins reprinted it in 1963, so a later date marks a later impression. Price clipped jackets are common.
Collins did not mark first editions or first impressions in any special way, so a Collins first, Crime Club titles included, carries no edition statement and is recognised by the absence of any later date and by the points for that title.
Read the full guide to Collins 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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Collins, London, in 1962, 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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