# Is "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury, 2011) is identified by: True first is Bloomsbury, London, 20 September 2011 (ISBN 9781408816035): black cloth boards with lettering to the spine, 352 pp., first printing identified by a complete publisher's number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. UK precedes: Bloomsbury London, September 2011, is the true first; Ecco US, March 2012, is the first American edition and is separately collected — both editions are collected and should be named.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is Bloomsbury, London, 20 September 2011 (ISBN 9781408816035): black cloth boards with lettering to the spine, 352 pp., first printing identified by a complete publisher's number line ending in 1 on the copyright page
- The first American edition is Ecco (HarperCollins), New York, 6 March 2012 (ISBN 9780062060617): white boards with gilt spine lettering and rough-cut (deckle) edges, again with a full number line ending in 1 on a first printing
- Jackets should be present and unclipped, with the price present at the flap
- Chronology check (a dating aid, not a publisher's point): the Orange Prize was awarded in 2012, so any Bloomsbury jacket carrying Orange Prize / Women's Prize winner wording postdates the September 2011 first printing
- A Bloomsbury signed limited issue of 500 copies, hand-numbered with a gold signature, is separately reported
- Publisher imprint reads Bloomsbury
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Madeline Miller |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
| Year | 2011 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is Bloomsbury, London, 20 September 2011 (ISBN 9781408816035): black cloth boards with lettering to the spine, 352 pp., first… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first is Bloomsbury, London, 20 September 2011 (ISBN 9781408816035): black cloth boards with lettering to the spine, 352 pp., first printing identified by a complete publisher's number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. The first American edition is Ecco (HarperCollins), New York, 6 March 2012 (ISBN 9780062060617): white boards with gilt spine lettering and rough-cut (deckle) edges, again with a full number line ending in 1 on a first printing. Jackets should be present and unclipped, with the price present at the flap. Chronology check (a dating aid, not a publisher's point): the Orange Prize was awarded in 2012, so any Bloomsbury jacket carrying Orange Prize / Women's Prize winner wording postdates the September 2011 first printing. A Bloomsbury signed limited issue of 500 copies, hand-numbered with a gold signature, is separately reported.

## Is this the true first?
UK precedes: Bloomsbury London, September 2011, is the true first; Ecco US, March 2012, is the first American edition and is separately collected — both editions are collected and should be named. Be alert to a widely-propagated error: Wikipedia's infobox credits "Ecco Press (HarperCollins)" with a 20 September 2011 US publication, conflating the Bloomsbury UK date with the Ecco imprint. That is not supported by the trade record — the Ecco hardcover is 2012. The novel's 2012 Orange Prize win is itself consistent with UK-first publication in September 2011, within the prize's eligibility window.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented in the dealer census consulted. The reprint tells are the number line (lowest digit above 1) and later jacket states carrying prize wording. "First thus" traps: the 2021 10th Anniversary edition (so marked), and the 2025 Deluxe Edition with sprayed/stenciled edges and endpapers featuring a map of Homer's Greece — neither is a first edition of the text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-song-of-achilles
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.