Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
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The first British edition is the William Heinemann hardback in dust jacket, London, 1999 (ISBN 0-434-00940-7), the same year as the Delacorte Press first edition in New York, published on 8 June 1999 with an ISBN of 0-385-29929-X. Heinemann was also the British publisher of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal Rising, so the Heinemann Lecter books are often collected together as a set of UK firsts. Confirm the Heinemann imprint on the title page and spine. No source examined gives the Heinemann printing line or print run, so check the copyright page for any later impression statement and prefer an unclipped jacket.
Before the 1920s. A first edition carries the year of publication on the title page, under the imprint. Reprints either lose that date or gain a notice such as "Second Edition" or "Second Impression", so a first is a copy with a dated title page and no reprint notice.
From the 1920s. The back of the title page carries a printing history. A first edition reads "First published" followed by the year, with no further lines; each later impression or new edition adds its own dated line beneath it.
Read the full guide to Heinemann 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.
Heinemann, London, in 1999, 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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