# Is "A Tale of Love and Darkness (Sippur al Ahava ve-Hoshekh)" by Amos Oz a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Tale of Love and Darkness (Sippur al Ahava ve-Hoshekh) by Amos Oz (Harcourt, 2004) is identified by: First English edition, translated by Nicholas de Lange, 2004, issued by Harcourt in the US and Chatto & Windus in the UK. The 2004 English edition is the first in English.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition, translated by Nicholas de Lange, 2004, issued by Harcourt in the US and Chatto & Windus in the UK. Cloth with dust jacket; the US Harcourt printing carries a full number line ending in 1 on the true first
- Memoir; the Hebrew original appeared in 2002
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Amos Oz |
| Publisher | Harcourt |
| Year | 2004 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition, translated by Nicholas de Lange, 2004, issued by Harcourt in the US and Chatto & Windus in the UK. Cloth with dust… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First English edition, translated by Nicholas de Lange, 2004, issued by Harcourt in the US and Chatto & Windus in the UK. Cloth with dust jacket; the US Harcourt printing carries a full number line ending in 1 on the true first. Memoir; the Hebrew original appeared in 2002.

## Is this the true first?
The 2004 English edition is the first in English. The US Harcourt and UK Chatto & Windus printings both appeared in 2004; the US Harcourt is generally treated as the first English-language edition, with the UK Chatto issue contemporaneous. Confirm by imprint and copyright page.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Vintage and Mariner paperbacks are reprints, not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Tale of Love and Darkness (Sippur al Ahava ve-Hoshekh)* by Amos Oz a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-tale-of-love-and-darkness-sippur-al-ahava-ve-hoshekh
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.