3 Stephen Hawking first editions are documented on this shelf, from A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988) to A Brief History of Time — deeper Hawking: The Universe in a Nutshell (2001) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Stephen Hawking 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 Stephen Hawking copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes — 1988 · Bantam BooksUS Bantam Books, New York, 1988. The earliest state is the SUPPRESSED first issue, which Hawking had withdrawn and largely destroyed because of production errors (misplaced and mislabeled photographs and diagrams). Identify it by textual/physical points, NOT the number line: (1) NO table of contents and NO dedication; (2) colored — grey-blue/light-blue — endpapers; (3) a SILVER/GREY dust jacket; (4) the Carl…. Both the US Bantam Books (New York) and UK Bantam Press (London) editions appeared in 1988 and are widely described as simultaneous (1 April 1988); the copyright page notes simultaneous US/Canada publication, and no firm priority is established between the US and UK issues — collectors should specify which they mean, and some references favour the UK issue. Genuine hand-signed copies are effectively impossible:…. Book-club editions are identified by a 'Book Club Edition' notice on the jacket flap and/or a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board, an unpriced jacket, and cheaper bulked paper — NOT by the number line, which offset book-club printings may reproduce. The suppressed silver-jacket first issue is the earlier, scarcer state; the common navy-jacket copies with a table of contents and dedication are the….
- A Brief History of Time — deeper Hawking: Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays — 1993 · BantamEssay collection, roughly 182 pages, the author's preface dated 31 March 1993. Bantam hardcover; the copyright page carries a full number line descending to 1 for the first printing. ISBN 0-553-09523-9 (13-digit 978-0-553-09523-4). The first-issue jacket shows the printed price on the front flap. Published 1993 by Bantam (US) and Bantam Press (UK); market priority is close. A distinct collecting target from A Brief History of Time. No book-club issue of note; the usual confusion is later printings whose number line no longer descends to 1. The full number line to '1' plus the priced first-issue jacket identify the first printing.
- A Brief History of Time — deeper Hawking: The Universe in a Nutshell — 2001 · BantamCopyright page carries a full number line descending to '1'. ISBN 0-553-80202-X; heavily illustrated in color, black cloth with gilt spine lettering. The first-issue jacket shows the printed price on the front flap. Published 2001 by Bantam (US) and Bantam Press (UK); market priority is close, so collect the US Bantam or UK Bantam Press per preference. A separate title from A Brief History of Time. No book-club issue of note; the usual confusion is later printings whose number line no longer descends to 1. The full number line to '1' plus the priced first-issue jacket identify the first printing.
More Nonfiction & Memoir shelves: Stephen Jay Gould, Studs Terkel, Thomas Carlyle, Tracy Kidder, William H. Prescott, William James.
← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.