How to identify a first printing
- States 'First Edition' or 'First Picador Edition (Year)' / 'First Picador USA Edition (Year)' on the copyright page WITH a descending number line ending in 1.
- Macmillan-family (FSG/Holt/St. Martin's) convention: 'First Edition' statement + number line to 1.
- Many Picador US titles are trade-paperback reprints of FSG/Holt/SMP hardcovers — a 'First Picador Edition' is the first of that Picador printing, NOT necessarily the first edition of the work; confirm against the original hardcover.
- Line ending in 1 plus statement = first of that Picador printing.
Notable points & cautions
- Picador USA launched in 1995 (not 1994) as St. Martin's Press's literary imprint; became a separate Holtzbrinck division in 2000; now part of Macmillan's trade group alongside FSG, Holt, SMP.
- Frequently a trade-paperback reprinter — so a 'first Picador edition' is often NOT the first edition of the title; check the original hardcover.
- Picador US DID originate some titles (paperback originals, which ARE firsts) from ~1995 until April 2019; as of April 2019 it stopped publishing originals and reprints exclusively, so for titles published 2019+ a 'First Picador Edition' is essentially never the true first edition of the work.
- Distinct from UK Picador (Pan Macmillan), which originates its own line; do not conflate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my Picador (US) book is a first edition?
Check the copyright page. States 'First Edition' or 'First Picador Edition (Year)' / 'First Picador USA Edition (Year)' on the copyright page WITH a descending number line ending in 1. Macmillan-family (FSG/Holt/St. Martin's) convention: 'First Edition' statement + number line to 1.
Does Picador (US) use a number line?
Macmillan-family (FSG/Holt/St. Martin's) convention: 'First Edition' statement + number line to 1.
Is a book-club edition a Picador (US) first edition?
No. Book-club editions reprint the text but are not the true first edition. Picador USA launched in 1995 (not 1994) as St. Martin's Press's literary imprint; became a separate Holtzbrinck division in 2000; now part of Macmillan's trade group alongside FSG, Holt, SMP.
What era does this cover?
This covers Picador (US) (1994–present). Conventions changed over time, so confirm the era of your copy.
Picador (US) titles with documented first-edition points
Each link opens that title’s specific points of issue — the exact marks that separate a true first printing from a later one.
- Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding, 1996)
- Ever After (Graham Swift, 1992)
- Last Orders (Graham Swift, 1996)
- Letters from London (Julian Barnes, 1995)
- Making an Elephant: Writing from Within (Graham Swift, 2009)
- Shuggie Bain (Douglas Stuart, 2020)
- Something to Declare (Julian Barnes, 2002)
- The Blackwater Lightship (Colm Tóibín, 1999)
- The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg (Deborah Eisenberg, 2010)
- The Heather Blazing (Colm Toibin, 1992)
- The Island of the Colorblind (Oliver Sacks, 1996)
- The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (Salman Rushdie, 1987)
- The Line of Beauty (Alan Hollinghurst, 2004)
- The Master (Colm Tóibín, 2004)
- The Sea (John Banville, 2005)
- Tomorrow (Graham Swift, 2007)
- Wish You Were Here (Graham Swift, 2011)