# Is "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (Norstedts, 2006) is identified by: For the first English edition (MacLehose Press/Quercus, London, 2009, hardback): first printing is identified by a complete descending number line retaining the 1 on the copyright page. The census claim is upheld.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- For the first English edition (MacLehose Press/Quercus, London, 2009, hardback): first printing is identified by a complete descending number line retaining the 1 on the copyright page
- This is unusual for a British publisher, most of which use an odd/even line, so it warrants the corroboration found: independent AbeBooks dealers grade the MacLehose Millennium printings by progressive removal from the bottom of a descending line — first printing '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1', second printing '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2', third '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3', fourth '10 9 8 7 6 5 4'
- Dealer descriptions of LATER printings lacking the 1 are the strongest available evidence that the first retains it
- Note the hedge: those graded quotations are drawn from listings across the MacLehose Millennium titles including the sibling volume, not from a transcribed copyright page of this title specifically
- Physical: octavo, c
- 569 pp; translation credited to Reg Keeland, the pseudonym used by Steven T. Murray; issued in a priced jacket with the price present at the flap
- Publisher imprint reads Norstedts

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stieg Larsson |
| Publisher | Norstedts |
| Year | 2006 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | For the first English edition (MacLehose Press/Quercus, London, 2009, hardback): first printing is identified by a complete descending… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
For the first English edition (MacLehose Press/Quercus, London, 2009, hardback): first printing is identified by a complete descending number line retaining the 1 on the copyright page. This is unusual for a British publisher, most of which use an odd/even line, so it warrants the corroboration found: independent AbeBooks dealers grade the MacLehose Millennium printings by progressive removal from the bottom of a descending line — first printing '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1', second printing '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2', third '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3', fourth '10 9 8 7 6 5 4'. Dealer descriptions of LATER printings lacking the 1 are the strongest available evidence that the first retains it. Note the hedge: those graded quotations are drawn from listings across the MacLehose Millennium titles including the sibling volume, not from a transcribed copyright page of this title specifically. Physical: octavo, c. 569 pp; translation credited to Reg Keeland, the pseudonym used by Steven T. Murray; issued in a priced jacket with the price present at the flap. For the Norstedts 2006 Swedish original: no first-printing point can be documented — Swedish antiquarian sources record that Swedish publishing has no standard for indicating upplaga/tryckning, and multiple 2006 Norstedts printings exist (a fourth printing dated 2006 is offered in the trade), so the 2006 date alone does not establish a first printing.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is upheld. Norstedts, Stockholm, 2006 (Flickan som lekte med elden) is the original-language true first, published posthumously. In English, the UK MacLehose Press/Quercus hardback of January 2009 precedes the US Alfred A. Knopf edition of 2009 — Rare Antiquarian Books catalogues the MacLehose 2009 first and states expressly that it preceded the US edition, and Eureka Books catalogues the Knopf issue as 'First American edition (first printing)', 503 pp, ISBN 0307269981. Both the Swedish original and the UK MacLehose first English are collected and should be named as distinct; the US Knopf first should be described as the first American edition, not the true first. Second volume of the Millennium trilogy.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. Two reprint/'first thus' traps are documented instead. First, the 2010 MacLehose deluxe boxed set gathers REVISED hardback editions of the three novels with maps plus a fourth essay volume; it is its own first impression (number line to 1) but is not the first edition of this novel. Second, the mass Vintage/Knopf and Quercus paperback reissues that followed the films carry the original dates and are later issues. On the UK first, the operative reprint tell is simply the number line: a line no longer retaining the 1 is a later printing despite the 2009 date.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Girl Who Played with Fire* by Stieg Larsson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-girl-who-played-with-fire
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.