First impression
2014At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £14.99→ first issue jacket
First edition
Hardback
H Is for Hawk (2014)
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 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 H Is for Hawk first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £14.99. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the H Is for Hawk first edition?
- Jonathan Cape, London, in 2014, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
The first edition is the Jonathan Cape, London hardback of July 2014 (ISBN 0224097008), 300 pages. The boards are plain beige or tan with dark lettering on the spine, and the price of £14.99 is printed on the front flap of the pictorial jacket. A first impression shows a complete number line on the copyright page, down to 1; the book was reprinted many times after it won the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Costa Book of the Year, so check for the 1 before buying a copy offered as a first. American editions are not the UK first.
How Jonathan Cape marked its first editions
- UK first editions name Jonathan Cape on the title page and carry a "First Published" statement with the year on the reverse of the title page. A first impression shows that statement with no later printings listed beneath it.
- Live and Let Die (1954) exists in three jacket states on first-impression copies, told apart by whether and where the jacket designer's credit appears on the front flap.
- Press reviews printed on the jacket flaps generally indicate a jacket from a later impression; on Casino Royale (1953) a Times review on the front flap marks a later run.
Read the full guide to Jonathan Cape 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 H Is for Hawk first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £14.99. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the H Is for Hawk first edition?
Jonathan Cape, London, in 2014, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- British National Bibliography, record GBB456085
- H is for Hawk, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald (first edition, first impression), The First Edition Rare Books (thefirstedition.com)
- H is for Hawk (Signed First UK Edition), AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- Helen Macdonald, H Is For Hawk, First Edition 2014, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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