8 David Mitchell first editions are documented on this shelf, from Ghostwritten: A Novel in Nine Parts (1999) to Utopia Avenue (2020) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that David Mitchell 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 David Mitchell copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Ghostwritten: A Novel in Nine Parts — 1999 · SceptreIssued by Sceptre in stiff pictorial card wraps as a trade-paperback original; no UK hardcover was published, so the wraps are the first form of the book. A number line including 1 on the copyright page confirms the first printing; the printed cover price should be present. Mitchell's debut novel; signed copies are sought. The UK Sceptre trade-paperback original (1999) is the true first. A US Random House hardcover also appeared in 1999 but does not precede the UK issue. The US Random House first hardcover follows the UK wraps original; per common US house convention its number line may begin at a higher digit rather than 1, whereas the UK Sceptre first printing carries a number line including 1.
- number9dream — 2001 · SceptreSceptre (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton), London, 2001, issued as a trade-paperback original in stiff card wraps; a full number line including 1 on the copyright page confirms the first printing. No UK hardback preceded it, so the wrappered Sceptre issue is the true first form. Booker-shortlisted. The UK Sceptre trade-paperback original (2001) is the true first; Sceptre issued no UK hardback, and the US Random House hardcover (quarter white cloth over white boards, stamped in blue) followed in February 2002. Later printings drop the 1 from the number line and/or state the impression.
- Cloud Atlas — 2004 · SceptreSceptre (Hodder & Stoughton), London, 2004, ISBN 0-340-82277-5 (9780340822777). First printing has the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ending in 1 on the copyright page. Bound in publisher's maroon cloth, the spine blocked in turquoise foil, with green decorative endpapers. The dust jacket, designed by Kai and Sunny, is a priced, unclipped jacket with the printed price present at the front flap; a…. REVERSE PRECEDENCE — UK precedes US here. Sceptre, London, 2004 is the true first. The first US edition (Random House, August 2004, ISBN 9780375507250) followed and, importantly for collectors, is a trade-paperback original with French flaps: Random House issued no US hardcover, so there is no 'US hardcover first.' Shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. A number line not ending in 1 indicates a later printing. The US first carries the Random House imprint and is a softcover (French-flap trade paperback), not a hardcover. Film-tie-in and book-club editions are distinct and lack the maroon-cloth/turquoise-foil binding and the full 10-to-1 number line.
- Black Swan Green — 2006 · Random HouseUS Random House hardcover: stated First Edition with a complete number line including 1 on the copyright page; boards with gilt spine lettering; price-printed dust jacket. The UK Sceptre edition (forest-green boards, metallic blue spine lettering, number line including 1) is a near-simultaneous edition that does not precede. Precedence corrected: the US Random House hardcover was published in April 2006, roughly a month before the UK Sceptre hardcover in May 2006, so the US edition is the true first by date rather than the Sceptre edition. On both editions, later printings drop the 1 from the number line and/or state the impression.
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet — 2010 · SceptreSceptre (Hodder & Stoughton), London, 2010, ISBN 9780340921586. Hardback in boards with gilt-titled spine, in a dust jacket carrying its printed price; the first printing is identified by a complete number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. Booker-longlisted. Confirm the number line ends in 1 and the priced (unclipped) jacket. UK Sceptre (2010) precedes the US Random House edition (2010). A signed, numbered limited edition of 500 copies was issued simultaneously with the UK trade first, housed in a publisher's slipcase and signed by the author; collectors distinguish this slipcased signed limited from the ordinary trade first printing. Later printings add an impression statement and the number line no longer ends in 1. The signed limited (of 500, slipcased) is a separate issue from the trade first, not a later printing.
- The Bone Clocks — 2014 · SceptreUK trade first, Sceptre, London, 2014, 595 pages, ISBN 978-0-340-92160-9. Bound in black paper-covered boards with the spine lettered in white (not gilt), in dust jacket; the first printing is identified by a full number line with the numeral 1 present on the copyright page. The unclipped jacket carries the printed original price on the flap. Booker-longlisted. UK Sceptre (2014) precedes the US Random House edition (2014). A signed, numbered slipcased limited edition of 500 copies was issued by Sceptre alongside the trade first, bound in yellow boards with grey titles and an embossed clock motif, with sprayed edges, a ribbon marker and specially-illustrated endpapers, signed on the limitation page; separate signed and limited states also exist. These are distinct from…. Later printings carry an impression statement and the number line no longer ends in 1; the trade first shows the complete descending number line down to 1.
- Slade House — 2015 · SceptreSceptre (Hodder & Stoughton), London, 2015. Hardback bound in full red cloth boards with a gilt-titled spine and a red-dyed (stained) top edge / text block; first printing identified by a complete number line ending in 1. The distinctive first-issue dust jacket is die-cut with holes to the front panel that reveal the metallic red of the front board beneath, and it retains the publisher's printed price (which…. The UK Sceptre and US Random House hardcovers were both published on 27 October 2015, so UK precedence over the US edition is not reliably established; treat them as effectively simultaneous and identify each by its own publisher imprint and number line rather than by precedence. A signed US issue also exists. Later printings carry an impression statement and the number line no longer ends in 1; a signed and a numbered limited issue also exist and are distinguished by their signature or limitation leaf.
- Utopia Avenue — 2020 · SceptreSceptre (Hodder & Stoughton), London, published 14 July 2020. Octavo, publisher's yellow paper-covered boards with the title stamped in black to the spine, and photographic endpapers; first printing identified by a complete number line ending in 1. The dust jacket was designed by Made Up and carries the publisher's printed price, which should be present and unclipped. Collation approximately [6], 561, [9] pages;…. UK Sceptre (14 July 2020) precedes the US Random House edition, which followed later in 2020. Later printings carry an impression statement and the number line no longer ends in 1; a signed limited issue with a tipped-in 'signed edition' leaf also exists and is identified by that leaf.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Denis Johnson, D.H. Lawrence, Diana Gabaldon, Don DeLillo, Donald Barthelme, Donna Tartt.
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