Orion Publishing Co, 1985 cover
Cover of the Orion Publishing Co, 1985 edition of this book. The Victor Gollancz 1985 jacket has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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Gollancz hardback (ISBN 0-575-03576-5) published in London in March 1985, a month before the Putnam edition in New York (April 1985), making it the true first edition. Our lead's Orion attribution reflects later ownership; the 1985 book carries the Gollancz imprint. Later impressions exist (dealers list second and third printings), so check the copyright page for an impression statement before treating a 1985 Gollancz copy as a first.
An older Gollancz first edition is identified by what is missing: later impressions are recorded on the back of the title page, so a copy with no impression line under its first-publication date is the first.
Allen and Patricia Ahearn's publisher list for ILAB says Gollancz made no first edition statement but noted subsequent printings, in the form "First published (year)" followed by "Second impression (year)". Dealers' listings show the same pattern. Two separate sellers of the 1948 reprint of Dilwyn Rees's The Cambridge Murders quote "Second impression (first cheap edition) January 1948" on the verso, one adding that "First published October 1945" is also stated, while the 1945 printing is offered simply as the first edition.
Read the full guide to Gollancz first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
The cover image shows this book but may not be this edition or printing.
Victor Gollancz, London, in 1985, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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