James Patterson First Editions

• The Thomas Berryman Number — 1976 · Little, Brown and CompanyThe first printing states "First Edition" / "First Printing" on the copyright page with the printing code "T03/76" set below the statement — the code is the operative point, since Little, Brown did not add number rows until the late 1970s, so a genuine 1976 first carries no number line at all. Binding is publisher's black and blue paper-covered boards with the titles stamped in silver on the spine, over black…. The census claim is confirmed: Little, Brown, Boston (the imprint also reads Boston and Toronto), 1976 is the true first, and no contemporaneous UK edition is traced — British appearances are much later reissues and are "first thus" only. There is therefore no UK-vs-US precedence question for this title; only the 1976 Little, Brown issue is collected as the first edition. A book-club issue of the title circulates. Club copies are separated on the copyright page, which lacks both the stated printing and the "T03/76" first-printing code; as is standard for club issues, the jacket carries no price at the flap. The copyright-page test is the reliable one — do not rely on boards alone, since the club binding imitates the trade issue.
• Along Came a Spider — 1993 · Little, Brown and CompanyThe first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page together with a complete number line descending to "1" — both must be present. This matches Little, Brown's post-late-1970s practice, in which the first-edition statement is paired with a number row and the "1" is deleted at the first reprint, so a copy with the statement but a line beginning at "2" is a later printing. The binding is reported as…. The census claim is confirmed: the US Little, Brown, Boston, 1993 issue is the accepted true first. A separate UK first edition followed from HarperCollins, London, in 1993 (ISBN 0002241269) and is collected in its own right as the first British edition, but it does not hold precedence over the US issue. First-thus trap: the Warner mass-market paperback and the later film tie-in issues are reprints, not first…. Book-club copies are common for this title and are frequently misdescribed. Separate them on the copyright page, which lacks the "First Edition" statement and the number line; the standard club tells also apply — no price at the jacket flap, a blind stamp to the rear board, and a smaller trim size with lighter boards.

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