First impression
1980At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £6.95→ first issue jacket
MalafrenaGollancz
Hardback
Malafrena (1980)
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 UK edition; the true first was published elsewhere.
- 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 Malafrena 1980 hardback?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £6.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the Malafrena 1980 hardback?
- Gollancz, London, in 1980, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
The novel was first published in New York by G. P. Putnam's Sons in October 1979. The first British edition is the Victor Gollancz hardback, London, March 1980 (ISBN 0 575 02761 4, 376 pages), issued in a dust jacket priced £6.95 on unclipped copies. Paperbacks are later: Berkley in America (1980) and Granada in Britain (1981, £1.50). The 2017 Gollancz Orsinia volume is a collected reissue, not a first.
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 Malafrena 1980 hardback?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £6.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the Malafrena 1980 hardback?
Gollancz, London, in 1980, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- Malafrena publication 288182, ISFDB (isfdb.org)
- Malafrena title record, ISFDB (isfdb.org)
- Library Hub Discover (Jisc union catalogue), discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk (discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk)
- Open Library edition record, openlibrary.org (openlibrary.org)
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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