# Is "My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı)" by Orhan Pamuk a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı) by Orhan Pamuk (İletişim Yayınları, 1998) is identified by: Turkish first edition, İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998, in printed wrappers. The Turkish İletişim edition is the true world first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Turkish first edition, İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998, in printed wrappers
- The first printing carries a '1. baskı' (first printing) statement in the colophon with no later printing ('baskı') number
- Turkish trade books of this period are issued as paperbacks and reprints add successively higher baskı numbers
- Publisher imprint reads İletişim Yayınları
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Orhan Pamuk |
| Publisher | İletişim Yayınları |
| Year | 1998 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Turkish first edition, İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998, in printed wrappers |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Turkish first edition, İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul, 1998, in printed wrappers. The first printing carries a '1. baskı' (first printing) statement in the colophon with no later printing ('baskı') number; Turkish trade books of this period are issued as paperbacks and reprints add successively higher baskı numbers.

## Is this the true first?
The Turkish İletişim edition is the true world first. The first English appearance, titled My Name Is Red (US Knopf 2001 and UK Faber 2001, translated by Erdağ Göknar), is a 'first thus' translation that follows the Turkish original by three years.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Turkish printings state higher 'baskı' numbers in the colophon. The Knopf and Faber English editions are translations, not the world first, and should not be catalogued as the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı)* by Orhan Pamuk a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/my-name-is-red-benim-ad-m-k-rm-z
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.