Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
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The first English edition is The Trial, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir with an epilogue by Max Brod, published by Victor Gollancz in London in 1937; Knopf published the American edition the same year, and the UK first is generally the scarcer of the two. The Gollancz first is an octavo of 285 pages in light blue cloth, the spine lettered in navy. The dust jacket is uncommon and makes up much of the value; surviving jackets are often browned or chipped at the spine. Later impressions and reissues of the Muir translation are not the first.
An older Gollancz first edition is identified by what is missing: later impressions are recorded on the back of the title page, so a copy with no impression line under its first-publication date is the first.
Allen and Patricia Ahearn's publisher list for ILAB says Gollancz made no first edition statement but noted subsequent printings, in the form "First published (year)" followed by "Second impression (year)". Dealers' listings show the same pattern. Two separate sellers of the 1948 reprint of Dilwyn Rees's The Cambridge Murders quote "Second impression (first cheap edition) January 1948" on the verso, one adding that "First published October 1945" is also stated, while the 1945 printing is offered simply as the first edition.
Read the full guide to Gollancz 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.
Victor Gollancz, London, in 1937, 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.
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 →