Peter Ackroyd First Editions

• The Great Fire of London — 1982 · Hamish HamiltonAckroyd's first novel; octavo hardcover of 169 pages bound in red cloth with gilt spine lettering; copyright page reads 'First published 1982' (ISBN 0241107040). The original dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap and an author portrait on the rear flap. Printed on inexpensive paper that commonly tans at the page edges. The UK Hamish Hamilton 1982 hardcover is the true first; the US edition (Chicago Review Press) followed later in the decade. No book-club edition of note; genuinely scarce in the original unfaded jacket, as the spine panel is prone to fading.
• The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde — 1983 · Hamish HamiltonHardcover in boards with gilt-lettered spine, octavo, 185 pages; copyright page reads 'First published 1983' (ISBN 0241109647). Issued in the original priced dust jacket, the presence of which (unclipped, bearing the printed price) is a key identification point. Won the 1984 Somerset Maugham Award. The UK Hamish Hamilton 1983 hardcover is the true first, preceding the US Harper & Row 1983 edition. Later impressions state the impression on the copyright page.
• T. S. Eliot: A Life — 1984 · Hamish HamiltonBiography in hardcover; boards with gilt-lettered spine; copyright page reads 'First published 1984' (ISBN 0241113490, 400 pages); original priced dust jacket. The UK title on the title page is simply 'T. S. Eliot'. The UK Hamish Hamilton 1984 hardcover, titled 'T. S. Eliot', is the true first. The 'A Life' subtitle belongs to the US Simon & Schuster 1984 edition ('T. S. Eliot: A Life'), which followed. Later impressions state the impression on the copyright page.
• Hawksmoor — 1985 · Hamish HamiltonHardcover in brown cloth/buckram, spine lettered in gilt; copyright page reads 'First published 1985' with a full number line ending in 1; original color-printed priced dust jacket. Won the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. The UK Hamish Hamilton 1985 hardcover is the true first, preceding the US Harper & Row 1986 edition. Later impressions raise the lowest number in the line above 1.
• Chatterton — 1987 · Hamish HamiltonHardcover in boards with gilt spine lettering, in pictorial dust jacket with the price present on the jacket flap. The Hamish Hamilton first impression carries a full descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. Booker Prize shortlisted. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 1987 is the true first, preceding the US Grove Press edition of 1988. Later impressions break the number line (lowest digit no longer 1) or otherwise note the impression; book-club issues lack the price and jacket points.
• First Light — 1989 · Hamish HamiltonHardcover in publisher's cloth-covered boards with gilt spine, in dust jacket with the price present on the flap. The first impression shows a full descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 1989 is the true first, preceding the US Grove Weidenfeld edition of 1989. Later impressions break the number line or state a higher impression.
• Dickens — 1990 · Sinclair-StevensonLarge single-volume biography in boards with gilt spine, in dust jacket with the price present on the flap. The first impression carries a full descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. A separate signed limited issue of 150 numbered copies in quarter cloth with marbled boards also exists. The UK Sinclair-Stevenson edition of 1990 is the true first, preceding the US HarperCollins edition of 1991. Later impressions break the number line; the signed limited issue is a distinct binding, not the trade first.
• English Music — 1992 · Hamish HamiltonUK Hamish Hamilton, London, 1992 (ISBN 0-241-13257-6), hardcover in boards with a gilt-stamped spine, in a dust jacket with the printed price present on the flap. The first impression shows a full descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page; published 28 May 1992. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 1992 is the true first. The US Knopf edition of 1992 states on its title-page verso that it was 'Originally published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton,' confirming UK precedence. A Franklin Library full-leather limited edition of 1992 is a separate special issue, not the trade first. Later impressions break the number line; the Franklin Library full-leather binding is a distinct collector issue rather than the trade first.
• The House of Doctor Dee — 1993 · Hamish HamiltonFirst edition, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1993, bound in black boards with the spine lettered in silver, in a dust jacket with the price present on the flap. The first impression shows a full descending number line ending in 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1) on the copyright page. The UK Hamish Hamilton edition of 1993 is the true first. The US Penguin edition followed and is not the originating edition; the exact US imprint and year of issue should not be relied on without further confirmation. Later impressions break the number line (the 1 is absent) or state a higher impression on the copyright page.
• Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem — 1994 · Sinclair-StevensonHardcover in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket priced accordingly. The UK first uses the title Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem; the US edition was retitled The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. The UK Sinclair-Stevenson edition of 1994 is the true first and precedes the US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 1995), which appeared under the changed title The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. The US edition is a separate first-thus published under a different title; it does not precede the UK first.
• Blake — 1995 · Sinclair-StevensonIllustrated biography of 399 pages in boards with gilt spine, in dust jacket with the price present on the flap. First impression carries a full descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. The UK Sinclair-Stevenson edition of 1995 is the true first, preceding the US Alfred A. Knopf edition published 26 March 1996. Later impressions break the number line or state a higher impression.
• Milton in America — 1996 · Sinclair-StevensonHardcover in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket priced accordingly. UK first issued under ISBN 1856196968. The UK Sinclair-Stevenson edition of 1996 is the true first and precedes the US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 1997). Later impressions and the Vintage paperback are reprints and do not precede the Sinclair-Stevenson first.
• The Life of Thomas More — 1998 · Chatto & WindusBiography issued in hardcover boards with gilt spine lettering, in a pictorial dust jacket reproducing Hans Holbein's portrait of More, with the printed price present to the front flap. UK first under ISBN 1856197115 (9781856197113). Collates roughly ix and 434 pages with eight plate leaves of illustrations, some in colour, bound in. The UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1998 is the true first. The US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday) also appeared in 1998 and carries a 'First published in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus' statement, confirming UK precedence. Later impressions are reprints and do not precede the Chatto & Windus first. Confirm the Chatto & Windus imprint and the Holbein-portrait jacket with its printed price intact.
• The Plato Papers — 1999 · Chatto & WindusHardcover in boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket priced accordingly. UK first issued under ISBN 1856197018. The UK Chatto & Windus edition of 1999 is the true first and precedes the US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2000). Later impressions are reprints and do not precede the Chatto & Windus first.
• London: The Biography — 2000 · Chatto & WindusFirst edition, first printing. A large octavo of xxiii plus 822 pages with thirty-two unnumbered plates (some in colour) and maps, bound in original grey cloth lettered in silver on the spine, issued in the first-issue photographic dust jacket with the printed UK price present to the flap on an unclipped copy. UK first issued under ISBN 1856197166. The UK Chatto & Windus edition of 2000 is the true first and precedes the US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2001). Later impressions and the paperback issues are reprints and do not precede the Chatto & Windus first; confirm the first by the grey cloth, silver spine lettering, and the photographic jacket.
• The Clerkenwell Tales — 2003 · Chatto & WindusChatto & Windus, London, 2003 first edition, first impression. Hardcover in black paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering, issued in a dust jacket that should retain its printed price. The first impression shows a complete descending number line ending in 1; later impressions drop the low digits (a second impression reads to 2, a third to a partial line such as 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3). Issued under ISBN…. The UK Chatto & Windus edition of 2003 is the true first and precedes the US edition (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2004). Later Chatto & Windus impressions are identified by a shortened number line that no longer ends in 1; they reprint the text but do not precede the 2003 first impression.
• The Lambs of London — 2004 · Chatto & WindusLarge octavo hardcover in grey faux-cloth boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket; 216 pp. First Chatto & Windus printing (London, 2004), with the publisher's number line ending in 1. ISBN 0701177446 (9780701177447). The first-issue jacket retains its printed price on the flap (present, not clipped). UK Chatto & Windus (2004) precedes the US Nan A. Talese / Doubleday edition (2006), ISBN 9780385514613. Later printings note an additional impression; no book-club issue affects the UK first.
• The Fall of Troy — 2006 · Chatto & WindusFirst Chatto & Windus printing (London, 2006), hardcover in black boards with gilt spine lettering, in dust jacket; the copyright-page number line ends in 1. Priced jacket; the printed price should be present on the flap. UK Chatto & Windus (2006) precedes the US Nan A. Talese / Doubleday edition (2007). Later impressions are stated as such on the copyright page. The Vintage paperback (ISBN 9780099492757) is a later format, not the first.
• The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein — 2008 · Chatto & WindusChatto & Windus, London, 2008 (published autumn 2008), first printing. Bound in blue cloth with gilt spine lettering, issued in a dust jacket that should retain its printed price (present regardless of any later clipping). The first Chatto & Windus impression carries the number line ending in 1; later impressions are stated as such on the copyright page. ISBN 9780701182953; about 296 pages. UK Chatto & Windus (2008) precedes the US Nan A. Talese / Doubleday edition of 2009. Later impressions are stated on the copyright page; there is no book-club concern affecting the UK true first.
• Three Brothers — 2013 · Chatto & WindusFirst Chatto & Windus printing, published 3 October 2013; hardcover in boards with gilt spine lettering, issued in a dust jacket that should retain its printed price. The first impression carries the publisher's number line ending in 1. The UK Chatto & Windus edition (2013) precedes the US Nan A. Talese / Doubleday edition (2014). Later impressions add a statement of impression on the copyright page.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Peter F. Hamilton, Peter Matthiessen, Peter Taylor, P.G. Wodehouse, Philip K. Dick, Philip Roth.

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