First impression
1997At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £16.99→ first issue jacket
Jingo (1997)
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
Quick answer
- How do I identify a Jingo first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £16.99. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the Jingo first edition?
- Gollancz, in 1997, in hardback.
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.
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How to identify this edition
Gollancz hardback published on 6 November 1997, ISBN 0-575-06540-0. Colin Smythe records a first printing of 120,000 copies and 170 proof copies. Collation is about 285 pages. The binding is black cloth (or cloth-effect) boards with the title in gilt on the spine, and the wraparound jacket carries Josh Kirby artwork and a printed price of £16.99; an unclipped jacket with that price is what to look for. Later impressions exist, so check the copyright page for a reprint line. A Book Club Associates edition followed in 1998 (CN 5106). The US first (HarperPrism, May 1998) has a Michael Sabanosh jacket, not Kirby's. Corgi paperbacks from 1998 and the 2014 Collector's Library hardback with a Joe McLaren cover are later.
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 Jingo first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £16.99. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the Jingo first edition?
Gollancz, in 1997, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- British National Bibliography, record GB97X2213
- Jingo, Colin Smythe (colinsmythe.co.uk)
- Jingo (novel), 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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