# Is "The Thomas Berryman Number" by James Patterson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Thomas Berryman Number by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company, 1976) is identified by: The first printing states "First Edition" / "First Printing" on the copyright page with the printing code "T03/76" set below the statement — the code is the operative point, since Little, Brown did not add number rows until the late 1970s, so a genuine 1976 first carries no number line at all. The census claim is confirmed: Little, Brown, Boston (the imprint also reads Boston and Toronto), 1976 is the true first, and no contemporaneous UK edition is traced — British appearances are much later reissues and are "first thus" only.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing states "First Edition" / "First Printing" on the copyright page with the printing code "T03/76" set below the statement — the code is the operative point, since Little, Brown did not add number rows until the late 1970s, so a genuine 1976 first carries no number line at all
- Binding is publisher's black and blue paper-covered boards with the titles stamped in silver on the spine, over black endpapers; octavo, collating [vi], 256, [2] pp
- The jacket is a colour pictorial design credited to Jean Goldsmith (designer) and Mike Nakai (illustrator), and should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap rather than clipped
- Patterson's debut and the 1977 Edgar winner for Best First Mystery; dealer accounts of a small first printing are consistent but were not independently documented and are not relied on here
- Publisher imprint reads Little, Brown and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Patterson |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Year | 1976 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing states "First Edition" / "First Printing" on the copyright page with the printing code "T03/76" set below the statement… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing states "First Edition" / "First Printing" on the copyright page with the printing code "T03/76" set below the statement — the code is the operative point, since Little, Brown did not add number rows until the late 1970s, so a genuine 1976 first carries no number line at all. Binding is publisher's black and blue paper-covered boards with the titles stamped in silver on the spine, over black endpapers; octavo, collating [vi], 256, [2] pp. The jacket is a colour pictorial design credited to Jean Goldsmith (designer) and Mike Nakai (illustrator), and should be a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap rather than clipped. Patterson's debut and the 1977 Edgar winner for Best First Mystery; dealer accounts of a small first printing are consistent but were not independently documented and are not relied on here.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed: Little, Brown, Boston (the imprint also reads Boston and Toronto), 1976 is the true first, and no contemporaneous UK edition is traced — British appearances are much later reissues and are "first thus" only. There is therefore no UK-vs-US precedence question for this title; only the 1976 Little, Brown issue is collected as the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club issue of the title circulates. Club copies are separated on the copyright page, which lacks both the stated printing and the "T03/76" first-printing code; as is standard for club issues, the jacket carries no price at the flap. The copyright-page test is the reliable one — do not rely on boards alone, since the club binding imitates the trade issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Thomas Berryman Number* by James Patterson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-thomas-berryman-number
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.