Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
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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.
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The British first is the Viking (Penguin) hardback dated 6 May 2003 by Open Library, ISBN 0670911267 / 9780670911264, 432 pages. Look for that ISBN on the copyright page. A paperback with a Viking 0670 ISBN (9780670914289) is dated June 2003, and the Penguin paperback (9780141005171) followed in June 2004. The US first, HarperCollins, New York (ISBN 9780066212852), is dated 1 April 2003 by Open Library, so it seems to predate the Viking edition; Thorndike issued a US large print the same year.
Read the full guide to Viking 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.
Viking, London, in 2003, 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.
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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 …
Read the guide →