First impression
1989At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £12.95→ first issue jacket
Guards! Guards! (1989)
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
Market value
What decides the price
- It is the first edition, which is the one collectors want.
- The first printing is told from later ones by 1 point of issue listed below.
- The original dust jacket carries much of the price for a book of this age; its condition matters as much as the book's.
- Condition is graded separately for book and jacket, from Fine down to Poor.
Sales record
No sales recorded yet
We value a printing from verified sales of that exact printing, and none of the first impression has come to auction in our records so far. The chart and the value by condition appear here as soon as one does.
Pro members with this book on their wantlist are emailed when it sells under their price.
Quick answer
- How do I identify a Guards! Guards! first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £12.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the Guards! Guards! first edition?
- Gollancz, in 1989, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
The true first: Gollancz, London, published 9 November 1989, ISBN 0-575-04606-6, 288 pages, in a Josh Kirby jacket priced £12.95. Colin Smythe's Pratchett bibliography records a first printing of 14,200 copies, eight reprints, and a 1997 reissue under a new ISBN (0-575-06485-4), so check the copyright page for any later impression and look for an unclipped £12.95 flap. Book Club Associates took Gollancz copies without alteration, so a BCA copy cannot be told from a trade copy by the book alone. The American Science Fiction Book Club issue (1991) repeats the Gollancz details on title and verso but has the NAL device on the spine, its own jacket and PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. at the foot of the copyright page. Our lead ISBN 9781568651934 belongs to that US book club issue, not the Gollancz first.
How Gollancz marked its first editions
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.
Printing by printing
Printings and states
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Guards! Guards! first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £12.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the Guards! Guards! first edition?
Gollancz, in 1989, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- Guards! Guards!, Colin Smythe (colinsmythe.co.uk)
- The Locus Index to Science Fiction, Locus (locusmag.com)
- Guards! Guards!, ISBN 9780575046061 listings, AbeBooks (abebooks.fr)
- Guards! Guards!, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
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.
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