FIRST EDITION as stated on the copyright page. Although the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club edition also states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, this is the real Trade issue. It lacks the several mentions of the Book Club on the binding, dust jacket and several places inside the book including the copyright page (which gives a 1956 date for the Book Club) that is found on the Book Club edition. It is also on good quality paper rather than the usually browned and brittle paper in the book club editions. It also is bound in a Yellow real cloth rather than one of the various shades of blue material (paper intimation of leather) that the book clubs are normally bound in. The True First Edition of this author's first book. The dust jacket has a similar design to the Book Club issue with the rear panel having an introduction of the new author, and the rear flap having an ad for Helen Fuller Orton's Mystery in the Apple Orchard. The trade dust jacket is a slightly different shade of blue than the Book Club, but otherwise the artwork is the same.