# Is "Nothing Like the Sun" by Anthony Burgess a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess (William Heinemann, 1964) is identified by: First printing of the Shakespeare novel (full title Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love-Life), William Heinemann, London, 1964, published to coincide with the quatercentenary of Shakespeare's birth. UK Heinemann is the true first; the US Norton edition followed in 1964.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing of the Shakespeare novel (full title Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love-Life), William Heinemann, London, 1964, published to coincide with the quatercentenary of Shakespeare's birth
- Issued in black boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Barry Trengove
- The earliest state of the first impression carries the lowest of the jacket's recorded printed prices; a later state of the jacket bears a higher printed price, and the last copies of the run appeared in purple boards with a decimal price sticker
- The true first-issue jacket should show the original printed price (present but any amount unstated)
- The UK Heinemann edition precedes the US W. W. Norton edition, which appeared later in 1964
- Publisher imprint reads William Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anthony Burgess |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing of the Shakespeare novel (full title Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love-Life), William Heinemann, London… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing of the Shakespeare novel (full title Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love-Life), William Heinemann, London, 1964, published to coincide with the quatercentenary of Shakespeare's birth. Issued in black boards lettered in gilt on the spine, in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Barry Trengove. The earliest state of the first impression carries the lowest of the jacket's recorded printed prices; a later state of the jacket bears a higher printed price, and the last copies of the run appeared in purple boards with a decimal price sticker. The true first-issue jacket should show the original printed price (present but any amount unstated). The UK Heinemann edition precedes the US W. W. Norton edition, which appeared later in 1964.

## Is this the true first?
UK Heinemann is the true first; the US Norton edition followed in 1964. Within the Heinemann first impression, the earliest jacket price state and black boards precede the higher-priced jacket state and the later purple-board copies.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Nothing Like the Sun* by Anthony Burgess a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/nothing-like-the-sun
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.