# Is "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes" by Stephen Hawking a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes by Stephen Hawking (Bantam Books, 1988) is identified by: US Bantam Books, New York, 1988. Both the US Bantam Books (New York) and UK Bantam Press (London) editions appeared in 1988 and are widely described as simultaneous (1 April 1988); the copyright page notes simultaneous US/Canada publication, and no firm priority is established between the US and UK issues — collectors should specify which they mean, and some references favour the UK issue.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US Bantam Books, New York, 1988
- The earliest state is the SUPPRESSED first issue, which Hawking had withdrawn and largely destroyed because of production errors (misplaced and mislabeled photographs and diagrams)
- Identify it by textual/physical points, NOT the number line:
- NO table of contents and NO dedication
- colored — grey-blue/light-blue — endpapers
- a SILVER/GREY dust jacket
- Publisher imprint reads Bantam Books

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen Hawking |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Year | 1988 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US Bantam Books, New York, 1988 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
US Bantam Books, New York, 1988. The earliest state is the SUPPRESSED first issue, which Hawking had withdrawn and largely destroyed because of production errors (misplaced and mislabeled photographs and diagrams). Identify it by textual/physical points, NOT the number line: (1) NO table of contents and NO dedication; (2) colored — grey-blue/light-blue — endpapers; (3) a SILVER/GREY dust jacket; (4) the Carl Sagan introduction present (dropped in later editions because Sagan, not Hawking or the publisher, held its copyright). The corrected second issue ADDS the table of contents and dedication, changes the endpapers to white, and uses a DARKER (navy) blue jacket. A full number line ending in 1 ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1') is present on BOTH the first and corrected issues, so the number line alone does not prove the first issue. Illustrations by Ron Miller; jacket price present (not clipped).

## Is this the true first?
Both the US Bantam Books (New York) and UK Bantam Press (London) editions appeared in 1988 and are widely described as simultaneous (1 April 1988); the copyright page notes simultaneous US/Canada publication, and no firm priority is established between the US and UK issues — collectors should specify which they mean, and some references favour the UK issue. Genuine hand-signed copies are effectively impossible: Hawking could not sign by hand and authenticated items with a thumbprint or a stamped signature, so any 'signed' copy must be scrutinised.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club editions are identified by a 'Book Club Edition' notice on the jacket flap and/or a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board, an unpriced jacket, and cheaper bulked paper — NOT by the number line, which offset book-club printings may reproduce. The suppressed silver-jacket first issue is the earlier, scarcer state; the common navy-jacket copies with a table of contents and dedication are the corrected issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes* by Stephen Hawking a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-brief-history-of-time-from-the-big-bang-to-black-holes
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.