# Is "The Constant Gardener" by John le Carré a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Constant Gardener by John le Carré (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001) is identified by: The Hodder first impression has the copyright-page statement "First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton" together with a complete descending number line whose lowest digit is 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1); if the 1 has been stripped, the copy is a later impression of the first edition, not a first printing. UK precedes US, but only by days, so both are collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Hodder first impression has the copyright-page statement "First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton" together with a complete descending number line whose lowest digit is 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1); if the 1 has been stripped, the copy is a later impression of the first edition, not a first printing
- Collated at 508 pp., bound in blue cloth-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt/bronze; dealers additionally report brown endpapers and a blue silk marker ribbon
- The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, and le Carré specialists treat a jacket free of review quotations as a first-issue point, later Hodder jackets adding press quotes
- The US Scribner first printing is a separate book: 484 pp., identified by the Simon & Schuster-style number line (1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2) on the copyright page
- An advance uncorrected proof in printed wrappers, dated 2000, precedes both trade issues but is a proof, not an edition
- Publisher imprint reads Hodder & Stoughton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John le Carré |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year | 2001 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Hodder first impression has the copyright-page statement "First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton" together… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The Hodder first impression has the copyright-page statement "First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton" together with a complete descending number line whose lowest digit is 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1); if the 1 has been stripped, the copy is a later impression of the first edition, not a first printing. Collated at 508 pp., bound in blue cloth-covered boards with the spine lettered in gilt/bronze; dealers additionally report brown endpapers and a blue silk marker ribbon. The jacket should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, and le Carré specialists treat a jacket free of review quotations as a first-issue point, later Hodder jackets adding press quotes. The US Scribner first printing is a separate book: 484 pp., identified by the Simon & Schuster-style number line (1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2) on the copyright page. An advance uncorrected proof in printed wrappers, dated 2000, precedes both trade issues but is a proof, not an edition.

## Is this the true first?
UK precedes US, but only by days, so both are collected. Hodder & Stoughton, London, published 4 January 2001; Scribner, New York, published 9 January 2001 (date per Kirkus). The Hodder & Stoughton 2001 issue is the true first; the Scribner 2001 issue is the American first and is collected in its own right. Watch for "first thus" traps: the Coronet and Pocket Books paperbacks and the 2005 film tie-in reissue are neither.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club printings of this period generally omit the publisher's number line and substitute a club code for the ISBN; a UK Book Club Associates (BCA) issue is the one to watch for. No club-specific tells are documented in detail for this title, so identify by the copyright page rather than by the binding.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Constant Gardener* by John le Carré a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-constant-gardener
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.