Image of book without cover [Book without cover]
First edition (1955 Copyright)
The First Edition can be identified by the following points:
"Copyright 1955" on the copyright page.
A $2.00 printed price in the lower right corner of the front flap.
Bound in yellow cloth with black stamping to the front cover and spine.
The rear panel of the dust jacket has no text, just illustration.
The 1955 copyright date is fairly obviously a mistake by the publisher. The copyright was registered on Sept 15, 1956 ("15Sept56" per The Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1956, page 1048) which also mentions "(in notice: 1955)" which refers to the incorrect 1955 copyright date on the copyright page. This is fairly clear evidence that the First Edition, First Issue had a 1955 copyright date, because the Copyright Registration copy apparently did. It is also fairly obvious that the book was not issued until around September 15, 1956, even though it had a 1955 date on the copyright page, because the copyright was not registered until September of 1956.
I have in my collection another copy which is similar, but it has "copyright 1956" on the copyright page, and it has review blurbs from ALA Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, and Publishers' Weekly on the rear panel of the dust jacket as well as the illustration seen on the copyright 1955 copy. This dust jacket also has a $2.00 printed price in the lower right corner of the front flap of the dust jacket. In some First Editions guides it is stated that the First Editions by Holiday House will have a price on the dust jacket and reprints will not. I believe this is a mistake by the guides. I think priced copies are early, but not neccessarily First Editions.
