# Is "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" by Douglas Adams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams (Pan Books, 1984) is identified by: First printing has the number line "9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page together with the statement "First published in Great Britain 1984" — the operative test; a copy lacking the terminal 1 is a later impression. UK original: Pan Books, London and Sydney, published 9 November 1984; the census is right that Pan is the true first, but its framing needs correcting.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has the number line "9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page together with the statement "First published in Great Britain 1984" — the operative test; a copy lacking the terminal 1 is a later impression
- Black boards
- The distinguishing jacket point: the dust jacket, designed by Gary Day-Ellison, carries an original plastic lenticular hologram mounted on the front panel as issued (it reads as a dinosaur or as a walrus depending on the viewing angle) — jackets missing the hologram are defective, not variants
- Price present at the flap on unclipped copies
- Publisher imprint reads Pan Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Douglas Adams |
| Publisher | Pan Books |
| Year | 1984 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has the number line "9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page together with the statement "First published in Great Britain… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing has the number line "9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page together with the statement "First published in Great Britain 1984" — the operative test; a copy lacking the terminal 1 is a later impression. Black boards. The distinguishing jacket point: the dust jacket, designed by Gary Day-Ellison, carries an original plastic lenticular hologram mounted on the front panel as issued (it reads as a dinosaur or as a walrus depending on the viewing angle) — jackets missing the hologram are defective, not variants. Price present at the flap on unclipped copies.

## Is this the true first?
UK original: Pan Books, London and Sydney, published 9 November 1984; the census is right that Pan is the true first, but its framing needs correcting. This is not merely "the first UK hardcover in the series" — Arthur Barker had already issued UK hardcovers of the earlier titles; what is distinctive is that this is the first Hitchhiker's book Pan issued FIRST in hardcover under its own imprint, rather than as a Pan paperback original with a hardback following. The first American edition is Harmony Books, New York, with "First Edition" and the full number line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page; it is collected separately and follows Pan. Dealer and library records split on its year — LCCN 84019350 and copyright-page dating point to 1984, while the LC classification and many dealer catalogues give 1985 — so the census's "US Harmony 1985" is defensible but not settled.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A US book-club edition of the Harmony text exists and is the common trap: no price at the jacket flap, a blind-stamped device at the rear board, lighter bulk, cheaper paper. The Pan paperback (1985) and the Pocket Books mass-market paperbacks (1985 onward) are reprints, not firsts. Later Pan hardcover impressions are identified by the shortened number line on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish* by Douglas Adams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish
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.