# Is "A Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah J. Maas a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York, 2016) is identified by: Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York, published 3 May 2016, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 978-1-61963-446-6. Census claim corrected in an important respect.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York, published 3 May 2016, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 978-1-61963-446-6
- The first printing carries the full number line on the copyright page reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 — that is, the line begins with 1
- The second printing of the same edition is identical in binding, jacket and title page and is separated ONLY by its number line, which begins at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10); multiple independent dealers describe both states in exactly these terms, and a second printing is routinely offered as a 'first edition' on the strength of the 2016 title page
- One secondary source circulating online gives the first-printing line as '2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1'; that is contradicted by the dealer consensus and by the documented second-printing state, and should not be relied on — check for the leading 1
- Publisher imprint reads Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sarah J. Maas |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York |
| Year | 2016 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York, published 3 May 2016, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 978-1-61963-446-6 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Bloomsbury USA Children's, New York, published 3 May 2016, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 978-1-61963-446-6. The first printing carries the full number line on the copyright page reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 — that is, the line begins with 1. The second printing of the same edition is identical in binding, jacket and title page and is separated ONLY by its number line, which begins at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10); multiple independent dealers describe both states in exactly these terms, and a second printing is routinely offered as a 'first edition' on the strength of the 2016 title page. One secondary source circulating online gives the first-printing line as '2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1'; that is contradicted by the dealer consensus and by the documented second-printing state, and should not be relied on — check for the leading 1.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim corrected in an important respect. Publication was indeed same-day on both sides of the Atlantic — 3 May 2016 — but 'Bloomsbury simultaneous US/UK' is true of the date only, not the format: the US Bloomsbury USA Children's issue is a HARDCOVER, while the simultaneous Bloomsbury (UK) issue, ISBN 978-1-4088-5788-5, is a trade PAPERBACK, the ACOTAR series having been published as paperback originals in Britain. There is therefore no UK hardcover trade first to contend for precedence, and the collected first is unambiguously the US hardcover. The census is right that book 2 is a genuinely collected first printing in its own right and does not ride on book 1.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented for this title in the sources consulted. The 'first thus' traps are the later Bloomsbury US trade paperback (ISBN 978-1-63557-558-3), the reissues from 2020 onward with redesigned adult-market jackets, and above all the subscription-box and retailer-exclusive productions — Fairyloot, Illumicrate, Barnes & Noble and similar — which carry sprayed or painted edges, foiled boards, character-art endpapers and redesigned jackets. Those are separate later manufactures, never the 2016 first printing: sprayed edges on a Maas title are a mark of a special edition and are evidence against a trade first, not for one.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Court of Mist and Fury* by Sarah J. Maas a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-court-of-mist-and-fury
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.