Another edition's cover
Cover of another edition of this book. The Hodder & Stoughton 1986 jacket has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 Oct 2026.
Value band from 4 sales in the last two years, updated 28 Oct 2026. Your copy's value depends on its printing and grade.
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The first British edition was published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, in 1986, ISBN 0340364777, following Viking's New York edition of 15 September 1986. It is a thick octavo of 912 pages bound in black cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. The pictorial jacket was illustrated by Gerald Grace and designed by Howard J. Shaw, quite unlike the American jacket by Bob Giusti. Hodder reprinted in 1986, so check the copyright page for any later impression notice. The New English Library paperback followed in 1987.
Early Hodder & Stoughton books have no consistent first-edition marking, so they are identified title by title from the points recorded for each book rather than by a house rule.
Allen and Patricia Ahearn's publisher list for ILAB says that before the 1940s the firm had no consistent practice for marking first editions or later printings. Ash Rare Books, writing about H. S. Boutell's 1928 guide, records that Hodder told Boutell its methods varied with every book.
Read the full guide to Hodder & Stoughton 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.
The cover image shows this book but may not be this edition or printing.
Values run from about £46 for a copy in lower grades to £82 for the best copies, depending on the printing and the condition of the book and jacket. Based on 4 recorded sales.
Hodder & Stoughton, London, in 1986, in hardback.
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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