# Is "Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (The Harvill Press, 2001) is identified by: First English edition, 2001, translated by Philip Gabriel. First English of the novel; the Japanese original was published by Kodansha in 1999.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition, 2001, translated by Philip Gabriel
- The US Alfred A. Knopf issue is a hardcover carrying First American Edition with a descending number line
- The UK Harvill Press issue was published in paperback with French flaps, not as a hardback
- Publisher imprint reads The Harvill Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Haruki Murakami |
| Publisher | The Harvill Press |
| Year | 2001 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition, 2001, translated by Philip Gabriel |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First English edition, 2001, translated by Philip Gabriel. The US Alfred A. Knopf issue is a hardcover carrying First American Edition with a descending number line. The UK Harvill Press issue was published in paperback with French flaps, not as a hardback.

## Is this the true first?
First English of the novel; the Japanese original was published by Kodansha in 1999. Both the Knopf US hardcover and the Harvill UK paperback appeared in 2001, and the precise month-level precedence between them is not firmly established, so neither should be asserted as the outright true first over the other. Collectors generally treat the Knopf hardcover as the primary collectible form.

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

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sputnik Sweetheart* by Haruki Murakami a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sputnik-sweetheart
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.