# Is "Deception Point" by Dan Brown a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket Books, 2001) is identified by: Pocket Books, New York, 2001, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 0-671-02737-9 / 978-0-671-02737-7, approx. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Pocket Books, New York, 2001, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 0-671-02737-9 / 978-0-671-02737-7, approx
- 6 the printed price x 9 the printed price in
- The first printing is identified by a complete number line on the copyright page running down to 1; dealers uniformly describe the true first as having the 'complete number line on copyright page', and any Pocket line that has lost the 1 is a later 2001 printing of the same edition
- The jacket should be the priced jacket with the price present at the front flap and unclipped
- Because the novel sold modestly before The Da Vinci Code made Brown's backlist valuable, remainder marks on the bottom edge are commonly encountered on genuine first printings and have no bearing on the printing identification
- Publisher imprint reads Pocket Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Dan Brown |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
| Year | 2001 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Pocket Books, New York, 2001, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 0-671-02737-9 / 978-0-671-02737-7, approx |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Pocket Books, New York, 2001, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 0-671-02737-9 / 978-0-671-02737-7, approx. 6 the printed price x 9 the printed price in. The first printing is identified by a complete number line on the copyright page running down to 1; dealers uniformly describe the true first as having the 'complete number line on copyright page', and any Pocket line that has lost the 1 is a later 2001 printing of the same edition. The jacket should be the priced jacket with the price present at the front flap and unclipped. Because the novel sold modestly before The Da Vinci Code made Brown's backlist valuable, remainder marks on the bottom edge are commonly encountered on genuine first printings and have no bearing on the printing identification.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. The Pocket Books US hardcover of 2001 is the true first in any language and there is no competing 2001 UK edition: Transworld/Corgi did not publish Deception Point in Britain until 2004 (a paperback, ISBN 0-552-15176-9), issuing the backlist only after The Da Vinci Code broke in 2003, so every UK issue is a reprint. This is Brown's third novel and completes the pre-fame quartet with Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons and Deception Point's siblings.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club printing of the Pocket 2001 hardcover is documented in the dealer descriptions and auction records consulted, and none should be asserted without a copy in hand. The documented traps are all publisher reissues carrying their own later ISBNs and printing statements: the Pocket paperback of 2002, the Atria hardcover reissue of 2003 (frequently mis-catalogued as a first because it is a hardcover with a 2001 copyright line), and the later Atria/Pocket mass-market printings such as ISBN 1-4165-2488-5 and 1-4165-2480-0. The separation in every case is the number line and the ISBN, not the jacket art.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Deception Point* by Dan Brown a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/deception-point
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.