2 Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) first editions are documented on this shelf, from A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986) to A Fatal Inversion (1987). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) 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 Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

A Dark-Adapted Eye — 1986 · VikingFirst edition, published by Viking in London in 1986, ISBN 0-670-80976-4 (9780670809769), 300 pages, under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Bound in blue cloth boards with metallic red lettering to the spine. The first-issue dust jacket shows a close-up of an eye with a gallows and rope noose reflected in the black pupil, and should retain the printed price on the front flap. The copyright page carries a single…. The UK Viking edition of 1986 is the true first; the US Viking/Bantam edition followed in 1986. This is the debut of the Barbara Vine identity and the novel won the MWA Edgar Award for Best Novel. Recognizing that Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell is the key identification point. Book-club editions lack the flap price and are typically thinner-papered; later impressions add a printing statement to the copyright page.
A Fatal Inversion — 1987 · VikingUK Viking first, 1987, with the 'First published 1987' statement on the copyright page and a complete number line; written by Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine. Won the 1987 CWA Gold Dagger. The UK Viking 1987 edition is the true first; the US Bantam 1987 edition is a first-thus. BCA and other book-club editions, and any later impression, are not the first edition.

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