Is My The Mermaids Singing a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing carries HarperCollins's 'First published in Great Britain in 1995 by HarperCollinsPublishers' statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line retaining its lowest digit — HarperCollins states 'First Edition' and uses a number row (Quill & Brush), and dealers describe the first printing of this title as having a 'full numberline,' so a broken line with the low digit stripped is a later printing
• Binding: black boards lettered in silver to the spine, sewn binding
• ISBN 0002325454 / 9780002325455
• A first-issue jacket is a priced jacket with the price present at the flap
• Two caveats to check against the copy in hand: the exact number-line sequence was not confirmed against a second title-specific source, and dealer records for the UK first give 289 pages while the US issue is recorded at 276 — pagination in marketplace listings for this title is unreliable and the ISBN is the safer discriminator

How HarperCollins Publishers 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 HarperCollins Publishers 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 UK 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 is confirmed: UK HarperCollins (London), November 1995, is the true first, and it took the CWA Gold Dagger for 1995. The first US edition is a genuinely separate and later book — HarperCollins (New York), December 1996, ISBN 0061011746 / 9780061011740, black cloth in jacket — and is collected in America in its own right, so both editions warrant cataloguing, but the UK 1995 issue is the first. This is the first Tony Hill / Carol Jordan novel. First-thus traps: the 2002 St. Martin's/Minotaur US reissue, the Harper mass-market issues, and the later HarperCollins reissues tied to the Wire in the Blood television series.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club or reprint tells are documented for this title in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tell is the television tie-in and reissue jacket artwork, which postdates the first by years; do not publish a club point for it.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Mermaids Singing a first edition?

A first edition of The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (HarperCollins Publishers) is identified by: The first printing carries HarperCollins's 'First published in Great Britain in 1995 by HarperCollinsPublishers' statement on the copyright page together with a complete number line retaining its lowest digit — HarperCollins states 'First Edition' and uses a number row (Quill & Brush), and dealers describe the first printing of this title as having a 'full numberline,' so a broken line with the low digit stripped is a later 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 is confirmed: UK HarperCollins (London), November 1995, is the true first, and it took the CWA Gold Dagger for 1995.

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

No book-club or reprint tells are documented for this title in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tell is the television tie-in and reissue jacket artwork, which postdates the first by years; do not publish a club point for it.

I have a first edition of The Mermaids Singing — 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.