Waveland Press, 2014 cover
Cover of the Waveland Press, 2014 edition of this book. The Gollancz 1971 jacket has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 30 Oct 2026.
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Bessie Head's novel was first published in London by Victor Gollancz in 1971 as a hardback of 127 pages in a dust jacket (ISBN 0 575 00542 4). Two other 1971 editions are easily mistaken for it. The Heinemann African Writers Series paperback (number 101, imprint London, Ibadan and Nairobi) is sometimes offered as a first edition, but it is a softcover series issue. The McCall Publishing hardback from New York is the first American edition. Look for the Gollancz imprint and an unclipped jacket.
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.
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.
Gollancz, London, in 1971, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 30 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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