Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
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The British first is the Hodder & Stoughton hardback of 1996, ISBN 0 340 65427 9, about 545 pages, in a dust jacket. Viking published the American first in New York on 24 September 1996 (690 pages), at the same time as its mirror novel The Regulators, issued as by Richard Bachman, so check the imprint and ISBN to be sure the copy is the Hodder edition. Check the verso of the title leaf for any later impression statement and the jacket flap for an unclipped price.
Early Hodder & Stoughton books have no consistent first-edition marking, so they are identified title by title from the points recorded for each book rather than by a house rule.
Allen and Patricia Ahearn's publisher list for ILAB says that before the 1940s the firm had no consistent practice for marking first editions or later printings. Ash Rare Books, writing about H. S. Boutell's 1928 guide, records that Hodder told Boutell its methods varied with every book.
Read the full guide to Hodder & Stoughton 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.
Hodder & Stoughton, London, in 1996, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
For most books published since the 1920s, the original dust jacket carries a large share of the value, often most …
Read the guide →7 min readTo identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
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