17 Ali Smith first editions are documented on this shelf, from Free Love and Other Stories (1995) to Companion Piece (2022) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Ali Smith title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Ali Smith copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Free Love and Other Stories — 1995 · ViragoShort story collection of twelve stories; first edition published by Virago in 1995 (ISBN 1-86049-190-1), cover bearing a still of Louise Brooks chosen by the author. Smith's debut book; winner of the Saltire First Book of the Year award and a Scottish Arts Council award. UK Virago (1995) is the true first. Distinguish the 1995 first issue from the later reissue under a different ISBN (1-86049-584-2).
- Like — 1997 · ViragoFirst edition issued as a cloth hardback with dust jacket (not a paperback original), the copyright page stated as a first edition. The book is an octavo of about 344 pages bound in black cloth with silver stamping to the spine and black endpapers, in a pictorial Virago dust jacket; a correct first jacket retains the original printed price on the flap. Smith's debut novel. UK Virago (1997) is the true first; the US Houghton Mifflin edition followed in 1998. No book club edition noted; identify the first by the 1997 Virago black-cloth hardback with silver spine stamping, black endpapers and the pictorial dust jacket bearing its original printed price.
- Other Stories and Other Stories — 1999 · GrantaSmith's first story collection. UK Granta first edition, 1999, in cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine and a priced dust jacket. Later printings note the impression on the copyright page. The UK Granta edition of 1999 is the true first edition. Do not confuse it with the later collection The Whole Story and Other Stories (Hamish Hamilton, 2003), a different book. Reprints and later impressions state the impression on the copyright page.
- Hotel World — 2001 · Hamish HamiltonCloth boards with a gilt-stamped spine, issued in a priced dust jacket; the printed price should be present on the jacket. Ali Smith's second novel, it was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2001 (ISBN 0-241-14109-5) is the true first edition and precedes the first American edition, published by Anchor Books (Knopf Doubleday, New York) in 2002 under ISBN 978-0-385-72210-0; the Anchor issue is the first US appearance, not the world first. Reprints and later impressions state the impression on the copyright page; the 2002 US Anchor issue is a separate first-American, and later Penguin/Anchor printings are reprints.
- The Whole Story and Other Stories — 2003 · Hamish HamiltonStory collection, first published by Hamish Hamilton (London) on 24 April 2003. The first impression carries the "First published 2003 by Hamish Hamilton" statement on the copyright page together with a full descending impression line ending in 1 ("10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"); later impressions drop the lowest numbers. Issued in cloth boards with a gilt-stamped spine and a priced first-state dust jacket, the printed…. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2003 is the true first and precedes the US Anchor Books edition of 2004. Reprints and later impressions are shown by the impression line no longer running to 1 (the lowest numbers removed) while the "First published 2003" statement remains; only a line ending in 1 denotes the first impression.
- The Accidental — 2005 · Hamish HamiltonFirst edition published by Hamish Hamilton (London), 26 May 2005 (ISBN 0241141907 / 9780241141908), octavo, 306 pp. The first printing is identified by a number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. Cloth boards with a gilt-stamped spine; the first-state dust jacket carries its printed price on the front flap. Won the Whitbread Novel Award and was Booker-shortlisted. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2005 is the true first and precedes the US Pantheon edition of January 2006. Reprints and later impressions state the impression on the copyright page and advance the number line so it no longer ends in 1.
- Girl Meets Boy — 2007 · CanongateFirst UK Canongate hardback, Edinburgh, dated 1 November 2007, part of the Canongate Myths series; cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine under a priced dust jacket. The first-edition cover reproduces a Tracey Emin drawing titled Self-portrait as a Small Bird, and the first issue carries a jacket blurb quote from Joyce Carol Oates. ISBN 9781841958699. The UK Canongate hardback of 2007 is the true first, a modern retelling of Ovid's myth of Iphis. Canongate distributed the title in the US under its own imprint the same year. Reprints and later impressions state the impression number on the copyright page; a later Canongate paperback reissue (ISBN 9781786892478) is a separate, subsequent format.
- The First Person and Other Stories — 2008 · Hamish HamiltonStory collection, octavo of 206 pages, ISBN 0241144264 (9780241144268). Bound in black cloth boards with silver-stamped spine lettering and burnt-orange endpapers. Issued in a priced pictorial dust jacket, the printed cover price present and unclipped on a first-state jacket. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2008 is the true first and precedes the US Pantheon edition of 2009. Reprints and later impressions add the impression statement on the copyright page.
- There but for the — 2011 · Hamish HamiltonHardback in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket. First impression carries a complete number line ending in 1. Note the title is intentionally rendered without a final word, a deliberate authorial device rather than a printing error. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2011 (June) is the true first, preceding the US Pantheon edition, which was published in September 2011. Later impressions are indicated by a number line that no longer ends in 1.
- Artful — 2012 · Hamish HamiltonHardback in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket. A genre-blurring work adapted from four Oxford lectures (On Time, On Form, On Edge, On Offer and On Reflection), framed within a fictional narrative. First impression carries a complete number line ending in 1. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2012 is the true first, preceding the US edition of 2013. Later impressions are indicated by a number line that no longer ends in 1.
- How to Be Both — 2014 · Hamish HamiltonHardback in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket. First impression carries a complete number line ending in 1. Issued in two variant printings with the book's two halves in reversed order; the two states are distinguished by a small icon on the cover and title page (an eye for the half that opens with the Renaissance painter, a camera for the half that opens with the contemporary teenager). Both…. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2014 is the true first, preceding the US Pantheon edition of 2014. Both the eye-icon and camera-icon orderings are first-printing variants of equal standing. Later impressions are indicated by a number line that no longer ends in 1; both ordering variants are genuine firsts.
- Public Library and Other Stories — 2015 · Hamish HamiltonStory collection of twelve tales punctuated by reflections on public libraries. UK Hamish Hamilton first edition dated 2015 (published 5 November 2015), ISBN 978-0241237465, approximately 240 pages, issued in hardback boards with gilt spine lettering in a pictorial dust jacket that should retain its printed cover price. The first impression carries a complete number line ending in 1. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2015 is the true first. The first American edition followed in 2016 as a First Anchor Books Edition (Anchor being a Penguin Random House imprint), and is a later, separate state. Later impressions are indicated by a number line that no longer ends in 1.
- Autumn — 2016 · Hamish HamiltonHardback in autumnal reddish-brown cloth boards with the title typography stamped directly onto the cloth, in dust jacket. The first-issue jacket wraps David Hockney's painting 'Early November Tunnel' around the lower portion of the boards, and the endpapers carry artwork by the 1960s British Pop artist Pauline Boty, a central figure in the novel. The first impression is identified by a complete number line…. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2016 is the true first, preceding the US Pantheon edition of 2017. Later impressions are indicated by a number line that no longer descends to 1.
- Winter — 2017 · Hamish HamiltonHardback in boards with gilt spine lettering, in the publisher's dust jacket. The first impression is identified by the printer's key reading 001 on the copyright page (Hamish Hamilton prints no 'First Edition' statement). Second volume of the Seasonal Quartet, published October 2017. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 2017 is the true first, preceding the US Pantheon edition of 2018. Later impressions are indicated by a printer's key whose lowest number is higher than 001 (for example beginning 003 or 005); there is no book-club issue.
- Spring — 2019 · Hamish HamiltonHamish Hamilton, London, 2019, third volume of the Seasonal Quartet, published 28 March 2019. Green boards with gilt spine lettering; a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page marks the first printing. The first-state dust jacket carries a David Hockney illustration and should retain its printed price; copies were issued with a printed promotional wraparound band. UK Hamish Hamilton (March 2019) precedes the US Pantheon edition (2019). Later impressions state the impression number on the copyright page rather than showing the full line to 1.
- Summer — 2020 · Hamish HamiltonUK Hamish Hamilton first edition (2020, ISBN 9780241207062), cloth-over-boards with gilt spine stamping, 384 pages. First printings carry the numeral '001' on the copyright page. As issued, the book came without a conventional dust jacket but wrapped in a printed illustrated belly-band/half-sleeve using David Hockney artwork; complete first copies retain that band. Concludes the Seasonal Quartet. UK Hamish Hamilton (2 August 2020) precedes the US Pantheon edition (2020). Later impressions raise the copyright-page numeral (002, 003, and so on) rather than showing '001'; a first printing must read '001'. No book-club issue is the identifying first.
- Companion Piece — 2022 · Hamish HamiltonUK Hamish Hamilton hardcover, published 7 April 2022, ISBN 978-0-241-54134-0. Bound in boards with gilt lettering on the spine, with a full number line counting down to 1, and issued in a David Hockney wraparound dust jacket that should retain its printed price. The book runs about 230 pages. UK Hamish Hamilton (April 2022) precedes the US Pantheon edition (2022). It follows Smith's Seasonal Quartet and, like those volumes, uses a Hockney landscape on the jacket. Later impressions state the impression number on the copyright page. Publisher-signed first-edition copies additionally carry an orange author-signed roundel on the jacket; this roundel is a signed-copy feature, not a point present on every first printing.
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