A Penguin first printing is identified from the imprint details on the reverse of the title page (the title verso), not from a "first edition" statement.
How to read it
- Look for the line "First published in Penguin Books" (or "Published in Penguin Books") with a year. Later impressions are recorded on the same page, as dated reprint lines on older books and as a printing number line on later ones, so a copy showing reprint dates or a number line without 1 is not a first printing.
- The original paperback price is a useful check: the first Penguins sold at sixpence (6d).
Traps
- Many Penguins reprinted books first issued in hardback by other houses, so the verso can show an earlier date and publisher as well as the Penguin one; the Penguin date is the one that matters for a Penguin first.