# Is "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday, 2015) is identified by: The standard UK Doubleday true first (January 2015) is a CONVENTIONAL JACKETED hardcover: black/dark-grey boards with silver spine lettering, issued in the Claire Ward pictorial dust jacket (net price on the unclipped flap), with the number line running down to 1. The UK Doubleday edition (January 2015) is the true first and precedes the US Riverhead edition (a conventional jacketed book, the 'first American,' number line 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The standard UK Doubleday true first (January 2015) is a CONVENTIONAL JACKETED hardcover: black/dark-grey boards with silver spine lettering, issued in the Claire Ward pictorial dust jacket (net price on the unclipped flap), with the number line running down to 1
- The jacketless black-boards version with silver print directly on the cloth, jet-black endpapers, a silver ribbon marker, and red-stained edges is the separately issued Doubleday SPECIAL DELUXE (luxury) edition, NOT the standard trade first
- Publisher imprint reads Doubleday
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Paula Hawkins |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Year | 2015 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The standard UK Doubleday true first (January 2015) is a CONVENTIONAL JACKETED hardcover: black/dark-grey boards with silver spine… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The standard UK Doubleday true first (January 2015) is a CONVENTIONAL JACKETED hardcover: black/dark-grey boards with silver spine lettering, issued in the Claire Ward pictorial dust jacket (net price on the unclipped flap), with the number line running down to 1. The jacketless black-boards version with silver print directly on the cloth, jet-black endpapers, a silver ribbon marker, and red-stained edges is the separately issued Doubleday SPECIAL DELUXE (luxury) edition, NOT the standard trade first.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Doubleday edition (January 2015) is the true first and precedes the US Riverhead edition (a conventional jacketed book, the 'first American,' number line 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1). Signed and publication-dated UK firsts are the premium standard issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition issue. The key distinction is UK Doubleday true first (standard jacketed trade printing) vs. the later US Riverhead first; the US edition is not the true first. Do NOT treat the jacketless deluxe/luxury binding as the identifier for the ordinary trade first — it is a distinct, separate issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Girl on the Train* by Paula Hawkins a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-girl-on-the-train
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.