The Buddha of Suburbia

Faber & Faber, London, 1990 — Kureishi's first novel (won the Whitbread Best First Novel award) [CONFIRMED]. Bound in publisher's ORIGINAL BLACK CLOTH with white lettering to the spine — NOT plain "publisher's boards." Multiple independent dealers consistently describe the Faber first as black cloth; "publisher's boards" is misleading and should be corrected to "publisher's black cloth." Dust jacket with its printed price on the front flap; a priced/unclipped jacket is the desirable first-issue point (clipped copies also exist) [CONFIRMED]. The first-printing number line ending in "1" is PLAUSIBLE for Faber of this era but was NOT confirmed by any source consulted for the UK Faber first — treat as unverified; do not assert it as a definitive point of issue