6 Orhan Pamuk first editions are documented on this shelf, from The White Castle (Beyaz Kale) (1990) to Snow (Kar) (2004) across 6 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Orhan Pamuk 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 Orhan Pamuk copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The White Castle (Beyaz Kale) — 1990 · Carcanet PressFirst English edition, translated by Victoria Holbrook, Carcanet Press, Manchester, 1990 (ISBN 0-85635-882-7). Boards with dust jacket; this was Pamuk's first book to appear in English. The US edition (George Braziller, New York) followed in 1991. The Turkish original appeared in 1985. The Carcanet UK 1990 issue is the true first English edition; the George Braziller US edition of 1991 follows. Not Gollancz or Faber — Carcanet was the first English-language publisher. Braziller US 1991, later Faber, and Vintage paperbacks are subsequent. Do not cite Gollancz.
- The Black Book (Kara Kitap) — 1994 · Farrar, Straus & GirouxFirst English edition, 1994, translated by Guneli Gun, issued by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US and Faber & Faber in the UK. Cloth in dust jacket. The Gun translation is the original first English text; the later Maureen Freely retranslation of 2006 is a separate first-thus, not the first English appearance. The Turkish original appeared in 1990. The 1994 Gun translation is the true first English edition. US and UK appeared the same year; precedence between the FSG and Faber imprints is not firmly established, so verify by imprint on the copy in hand. The 2006 Freely retranslation is a distinct first-thus. The 2006 Freely translation and later paperbacks are subsequent. Distinguish the Gun (1994) and Freely (2006) translations.
- My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı) — 1998 · İletişim YayınlarıTurkish first edition, İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998, in printed wrappers. The first printing carries a '1. baskı' (first printing) statement in the colophon with no later printing ('baskı') number; Turkish trade books of this period are issued as paperbacks and reprints add successively higher baskı numbers. The Turkish İletişim edition is the true world first. The first English appearance, titled My Name Is Red (US Knopf 2001 and UK Faber 2001, translated by Erdağ Göknar), is a 'first thus' translation that follows the Turkish original by three years. Later Turkish printings state higher 'baskı' numbers in the colophon. The Knopf and Faber English editions are translations, not the world first, and should not be catalogued as the true first.
- My Name Is Red — 2001 · Alfred A. KnopfBoth English editions appeared in 2001, in different formats, so format is decisive. The US Knopf edition is a hardcover (Borzoi Books) stating 'First Edition' with the Borzoi colophon; translated by Erdağ M. Göknar, with the price present at the front flap. The UK Faber and Faber edition of the same translation was issued in 2001 as a paperback original — no UK hardback was published. Collectors seeking a first…. The absolute true first in any language is the Turkish 'Benim Adım Kırmızı' (İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998). The English firsts are both 2001 — the US Knopf hardcover and the UK Faber paperback original — in Göknar's translation. The English translation won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003, and Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. No major club edition is involved. Among English printings, note that the UK Faber 2001 was a paperback original with no UK hardback, while the US Knopf 2001 is the first (and only) English hardcover; precedence depends on whether you privilege format (Knopf hardcover) or earliest appearance (weigh the Faber paperback). The 1998 Turkish İletişim edition precedes all English printings.
- Snow — 2004 · Faber and FaberThe true first English edition is the UK Faber and Faber hardback, published 6 May 2004 (ISBN 057121830X), translated by Maureen Freely. The US Alfred A. Knopf edition (Borzoi Books), translated by the same Maureen Freely, was published roughly three months later in August 2004 and states 'First American Edition' on the copyright page, with a Chip Kidd jacket and red boards quarter-bound in black cloth (ISBN…. The UK Faber 2004 hardback is the first English-language edition; the US Knopf 2004 is the first American edition only, published about three months later. The Turkish 'Kar' (Iletisim, 2002) is the true first in any language. No club edition is involved. The absolute true first is the 2002 Turkish edition. Among English printings, the UK Faber hardback precedes the US Knopf 'First American Edition,' reversing the common assumption that the Knopf is the English true first.
- Snow (Kar) — 2004 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst English edition, 2004, translated by Maureen Freely. The US Knopf issue carries the Borzoi colophon and a number line including 1 on the first printing, with a priced dust jacket. Faber & Faber issued the UK edition the same year. The Turkish original appeared in 2002. Both the US Knopf and the UK Faber editions appeared in 2004. Same-year US/UK precedence is not firmly documented, so verify by the imprint on the copy in hand rather than assuming US priority. Pamuk received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. Vintage and Faber paperbacks are reprints.
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