Is My The Restaurant at the End of the Universe a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Pan paperback original: pictorial card wrappers, "First published 1980 by Pan Books Ltd" stated on the copyright page with no later dates and no impression line, cover price printed on the rear wrapper, ISBN 0 330 26213 0, approx
• 176 x 110 mm
• Being a paperback original, it has no jacket points — condition of the card covers is everything
• The first hardback issue is Arthur Barker (London, 1980), later the same year: first impression so stated, jacket design by Andrew Kay from an illustration by Mike Litherland
• The first American edition is Harmony Books, New York: "First Edition" together with the full number line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page, blue cloth with black sides, price present at the jacket flap

How Pan Books marked a first edition

• First printings carry a number line, typically descending ending in 1 (1 present = first); lowest digit indicates printing

Full Pan Books 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?

CENSUS CORRECTED. The Pan paperback original (UK, October 1980) is the true first — correct as claimed — but the census misses the Arthur Barker (London) hardcover of 1980, which is the first hardback issue and the classic "first thus" trap on this title: it is a genuine 1980 hardcover but it follows the Pan wrappers. Both are collected. The census date for the US edition is also wrong: the first American edition is Harmony Books, New York, released January 1981 (LCCN 81006563, ISBN 0517545357), not 1982 — though some dealer records and one collecting guide date the Harmony first American edition 1980, so treat the US year as 1980/81 unresolved rather than 1982.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No UK book-club edition is documented for the Pan original. Later Pan printings are identified by an added impression line or date on the copyright page and by a changed cover price. The Pocket Books mass-market issues (1982, 1985), the Del Rey/Ballantine reissue, and the Pan Macmillan series-branded reprints are all plainly imprinted and carry their own edition statements.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe a first edition?

A first edition of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (Pan Books) is identified by: The true first is the Pan paperback original: pictorial card wrappers, "First published 1980 by Pan Books Ltd" stated on the copyright page with no later dates and no impression line, cover price printed on the rear wrapper, ISBN 0 330 26213 0, approx.

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). CENSUS CORRECTED.

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

No UK book-club edition is documented for the Pan original. Later Pan printings are identified by an added impression line or date on the copyright page and by a changed cover price. The Pocket Books mass-market issues (1982, 1985), the Del Rey/Ballantine reissue, and the Pan Macmillan series-branded reprints are all plainly imprinted and carry their own edition statements.

I have a first edition of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe — 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.