Is My Copy of Intermezzo a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The Faber & Faber UK first is a hardcover in one-piece grey paper over boards with black spine lettering, issued in a jacket with raised lettering
• Faber house practice — corroborated by both the ILAB and Quill & Brush (qbbooks) publisher guides — is a "First published in [year] by Faber & Faber Limited" statement on the copyright page with subsequent impressions noted; where a number row is present, the lowest number governs, so a line containing 1 marks the first printing
• Dealer descriptions of the Faber issue consistently confirm "first edition, first printing" by the full number line beginning with 1
• The Farrar, Straus and Giroux US issue (ISBN 9780374602635, 464 pp.) states "First American edition, 2024" with a full number line, consistent with the FSG practice recorded in both guides of stating "First published / First printing / First edition (Year)" on the copyright page
• Refer to jacket price only as priced jacket / price present at the flap; an unclipped flap is the desirable state

How Faber & Faber marked a first edition

• First printings state "First published in [Year]" (often "First published in mcmxxxx") on the copyright/verso page, with no list of later impressions
• Since WWII the month was generally dropped from the statement (pre-war statements sometimes named the month)

Full Faber & Faber first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Faber & Faber, London and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York both published on 24 September 2024 — simultaneous, with no documented priority. Both are collected and both should be named. Faber is the author's home publisher and is the issue conventionally preferred as the first; the FSG issue is the American first and is correctly described as "first American edition," not as a reprint. Trap: Faber's own "International Edition" (ISBN 9780571365470) is a separate export issue, not the UK first.P-043269

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. The heavy trap on this title is bookseller-exclusive states issued at or near publication, all of which are first-thus or variant rather than the plain first: the Kenny's signed and numbered limitation of 1,000 copies (numbered to a limitation page); copies with sprayed or blackened edges; copies with chess-board endpapers; the state carrying the bonus short story "Colour and Light"; and publication-day event covers stamped or illustrated by commissioned artists. Signed copies occur both with a bound-in signature leaf and with a loosely tipped-in publisher's bookplate — distinguish the two. Later Faber impressions are identified by numbers removed from the number row.P-043270

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Intermezzo a first edition?

A first edition of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber) is identified by: The Faber & Faber UK first is a hardcover in one-piece grey paper over boards with black spine lettering, issued in a jacket with raised lettering.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). Faber & Faber, London and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York both published on 24 September 2024 — simultaneous, with no documented priority.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue is documented.

I have a first edition of Intermezzo — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.