A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes

Both the US Bantam Books (New York) and UK Bantam Press (London) editions appeared in 1988 and are widely described as simultaneous (1 April 1988); the copyright page notes simultaneous US/Canada publication, and no firm priority is established between the US and UK issues — collectors should specify which they mean, and some references favour the UK issue. Genuine hand-signed copies are effectively impossible: Hawking could not sign by hand and authenticated items with a thumbprint or a stamped signature, so any 'signed' copy must be scrutinised.