Is My The Hunger a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Identification rests on the number row on the copyright page: Morrow has used a descending or interleaved number line since 1973, and the presence of the numeral 1 in that row marks the first printing
• Do not rely on a "First Edition" slug alone — Morrow is documented by both the ILAB and Quill & Brush publisher guides as having used a first-edition statement only intermittently and as being notoriously inconsistent about removing it from later printings, so a copy can read "First Edition" and still be a later printing
• Correct first-printing copies are the 1981 Morrow hardcover in a priced jacket (price present at the front flap, unclipped)
• No first-state text error, cancel, or binding variant is recorded for this title in any source consulted; the title-specific number-line configuration is not set down in a published Strieber bibliography, so the row itself — not a dealer's assertion — is the point to check on the copy in hand

How William Morrow and Company, New York marked a first edition

• 1922–c.1962 (Harper & Brothers, stated-first era): from 1922 Harper & Brothers began printing the words 'First Edition' on the copyright page. IMPORTANT: the letter printing code did NOT stop in 1922 — it continued to ap…
• Reading the year code (the central trap): the year sequence begins M=1912 and runs forward through the alphabet — M=1912, N=1913, O=1914 … Z=1925, A=1926, B=1927 … L=1936. In 1937 the alphabet is RECYCLED: it restarts at…

Full William Morrow and Company, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The census claim stands: the true first is the US edition, William Morrow and Company, New York, 1981. The first UK edition is The Bodley Head, London, 1981 (ISBN 0-370-30398-9), bound in black cloth/boards with silver spine lettering; its copyright page reads "First published in Great Britain in 1981," a formula that itself signals prior publication abroad and therefore confirms US precedence rather than a shared-year tie. Both editions are collected, but the Morrow is the first. One AbeBooks listing dates the Bodley Head to 1980; that is contradicted by Open Library, by other dealer copies, and by the "First published in Great Britain in 1981" statement, and is treated here as a listing error. Later Corgi (1983) and Pocket/Simon & Schuster paperbacks are reprints, and the Deneuve/Bowie cover state is a 1983 film tie-in — a "first thus" trap, not a first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Book-club copies of the 1981 Morrow issue circulate and are frequently mis-sold as firsts. The documented tells are a jacket with no price at the front flap, a small blind stamp (impressed square, circle, or dot) on the lower rear board, and a smaller trim size with thinner paper and cheaper binding than the trade issue. A separate club-issue ISBN (0-7394-1997-8) also appears in the record for this title. A club copy remains a club copy even where a first-edition statement is present.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Hunger a first edition?

A first edition of The Hunger by Whitley Strieber (William Morrow and Company, New York) is identified by: Identification rests on the number row on the copyright page: Morrow has used a descending or interleaved number line since 1973, and the presence of the numeral 1 in that row marks the first printing.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The census claim stands: the true first is the US edition, William Morrow and Company, New York, 1981.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Book-club copies of the 1981 Morrow issue circulate and are frequently mis-sold as firsts. The documented tells are a jacket with no price at the front flap, a small blind stamp (impressed square, circle, or dot) on the lower rear board, and a smaller trim size with thinner paper and cheaper binding than the trade issue. A separate club-issue ISBN (0-7394-1997-8) also appears in the record for this title. A club copy remains a club copy even where a first-edition statement is present.

I have a first edition of The Hunger — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.