Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 2 Nov 2026.
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First UK edition: Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981. Verifier changed from ours_correct: Jisc gives the imprint date as 1981 with the described copy printed in 1982, agreeing with BNB 1981; LoC and Open Library give 1982. Same ISBN as ours, so only the year changes.
OUP did not say "First edition" on its books for most of the twentieth century. You identify a first by the absence of any record of later printings, not by a positive statement. Clarendon Press is OUP's own imprint, named after its Oxford building, so a Clarendon Press book is still an OUP publication.
Read the full guide to Oxford University Press 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.
Oxford University Press, Oxford [Oxfordshire, in 1981, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 2 November 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 …
Read the guide →