4 Sebastian Faulks first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Girl at the Lion d'Or (1989) to Charlotte Gray (1998). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Sebastian Faulks 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 Sebastian Faulks copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Girl at the Lion d'Or — 1989 · HutchinsonStates 'First published 1989' by Hutchinson on the copyright page. Original olive-green cloth, gilt spine titles, decorative endpapers, in a priced dust jacket. First book of Faulks's loose French trilogy (with Birdsong and Charlotte Gray). UK Hutchinson (1989) is the true first. The novel was never issued in US hardcover; the US Vintage paperback came much later. The UK precedes. No notable book-club edition; post-Birdsong reprints are common. The hardcover first is the scarcest of Faulks's novels.
- A Fool's Alphabet — 1992 · HutchinsonStates 'First published 1992' by Hutchinson on the copyright page. Publisher's brown cloth lettered in gilt, in a pictorial, priced dust jacket. Structured as 26 chapters, each set in a place beginning with a different letter. UK Hutchinson (1992) is the true first. The US first came later. The UK precedes. No notable book-club edition.
- Birdsong — 1993 · HutchinsonStates 'First published 1993' by Hutchinson; the copyright-page number line runs down to 1 on the true first impression. Original green cloth lettered in silver, grey endpapers, in a priced dust jacket. Faulks's most collected book; the first impression precedes the US Random House edition (1996). UK Hutchinson (1993) is the true first. The US Random House edition came in 1996. The UK strongly precedes. Confirm the Hutchinson imprint and that the number line ends in 1. Book-club and later Vintage paperback editions are reprints, not the first; check that the number line ends in 1.
- Charlotte Gray — 1998 · HutchinsonFirst UK edition published by Hutchinson, London, 1998, stating 'First published in 1998'; blue cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in the unclipped pictorial dust jacket. First printing indicated by the number sequence at the copyright page. Third and final volume of Faulks's French trilogy, following The Girl at the Lion d'Or and Birdsong. UK Hutchinson (1998) is the true first; the US Random House edition followed in 1999. UK precedes. Film tie-in editions (the 2001 film starred Cate Blanchett) and later printings are reprints, not the first.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Shelby Foote, Sherman Alexie, Siegfried Sassoon, Sinclair Lewis, Stanley Elkin, Stephen Baxter.
← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.