# Is "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (Satori Publishing, 1993) is identified by: The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green wraps, 255 pages, ISBN 0-944353-00-2 (9780944353004). The US self-published Satori Publishing edition (Hoover, Alabama, 1993) is the true first edition; the Warner Books hardcover (New York, March 1994) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green wraps, 255 pages, ISBN 0-944353-00-2
- There is no Satori hardcover
- Redfield and his wife printed 3,000 copies at their own expense and mailed or personally gave away roughly 1,500 of them to small bookshops and individuals in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia
- A second Satori printing exists and is itself scarce; dealers routinely offer it as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd printing," but no source consulted publishes the copyright-page point that separates the Satori first printing from the second, so a Satori copy must be checked against its own copyright page rather than assumed to be a first printing
- The first trade edition and first hardcover is Warner Books, New York, March 1994, ISBN 0-446-51862-X
- , 246 pages, bound with a green quarter spine over cream/white paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering (dealers describe the spine covering variously as cloth or paper)
- Correct publisher/imprint: Satori Publishing

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Redfield |
| Publisher | Satori Publishing |
| Year | 1993 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Comic / graphic novel |
| Key point | The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the author's own self-published Satori Publishing issue, Hoover, Alabama, dated 1993: a 6 x 9 trade paperback in green wraps, 255 pages, ISBN 0-944353-00-2 (9780944353004). There is no Satori hardcover. Redfield and his wife printed 3,000 copies at their own expense and mailed or personally gave away roughly 1,500 of them to small bookshops and individuals in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. A second Satori printing exists and is itself scarce; dealers routinely offer it as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd printing," but no source consulted publishes the copyright-page point that separates the Satori first printing from the second, so a Satori copy must be checked against its own copyright page rather than assumed to be a first printing. The first trade edition and first hardcover is Warner Books, New York, March 1994, ISBN 0-446-51862-X (9780446518628), 246 pages, bound with a green quarter spine over cream/white paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering (dealers describe the spine covering variously as cloth or paper). Its copyright page states "First Warner Books Printing: March 1994" and carries a full number line with the 1 present. Priced jacket / price present at the flap, unclipped, with the Warner Audio Books blurb on the rear panel.

## Is this the true first?
The US self-published Satori Publishing edition (Hoover, Alabama, 1993) is the true first edition; the Warner Books hardcover (New York, March 1994) is the first trade edition and the first hardcover. Both are collected — the Satori for precedence, the Warner as the first properly published appearance. Redfield's own account on celestinevision.com and the Wikipedia infobox both date the Satori issue 1993, though some author bios loosely say he "self-published in 1992"; the imprint itself reads 1993, and that is the date to go by. No non-US or original-language edition precedes: Bantam/Transworld in the UK and all translations followed the Warner text and have no precedence. Warner's own later printings are numbered on the copyright page (copies stating "48th printing" are in circulation) and are first-edition-later-printing, not firsts.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the Satori self-published edition exists. Book-club copies of the Warner hardcover are not specifically documented in the sources consulted; where a club copy appears it shows the standard 1990s tells — no price at the jacket flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed on the front flap instead), a small blindstamp or dot on the lower rear board, and thinner, lighter bulk with cheaper boards. Doubleday-style gutter codes do not apply to a 1994 Warner book. The commonest reprint trap here is not a club copy at all but a Warner later printing that a dealer has tagged "the printed pricet edition": Warner numbered its printings explicitly, so read the printing statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Celestine Prophecy* by James Redfield a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-celestine-prophecy
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.