Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 3 Nov 2026.
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The third Harper Hall book was first published in New York by Atheneum in 1979 with a Fred Marcellino jacket. The first British edition is the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback of the same year, ISBN 0 283 98569 0, with 11 preliminary pages and 240 numbered pages, about 21 cm tall. Its jacket art is by Colin Saxton (ISFDB and Wikipedia; one library record names him Carl Saxton), which separates it from the American issue. ISFDB records a Sidgwick & Jackson issue dated 1980 under the same ISBN, so check that the copyright page shows 1979 only. The Corgi paperback of 1981, with a Steve Weston cover, is the first British paperback and is later.
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.
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Sidgwick & Jackson, London, in 1979, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 3 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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