Vintage International, 1989 cover
Cover of the Vintage International, 1989 edition of this book. The Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1971 jacket has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
Buy a copy: eBay
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.
Nabokov's first novel came out in Russian as Mashenka (Berlin: Slovo, 1926) under the name V. Sirin. The English version, translated by Michael Glenny with the author, was first published in New York by McGraw-Hill in 1970 (catalogued as the first edition in English). The first British edition is the Weidenfeld & Nicolson hardback, London, 1971, ISBN 0297002694: xiii, 114 pages, 22 to 23 cm, the same collation as the McGraw-Hill book, with a 1970 copyright date. A McGraw-Hill imprint on the title page means the American first. The first Penguin paperback of the translation was issued at Harmondsworth in 1973 (ISBN 0140036911, 105 pages); later Penguin printings of 2009 and 2017 note that the translation first appeared in Britain from Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1971.
A Weidenfeld & Nicolson first edition carries either a "First published in (year)" line on the copyright page or no edition statement at all. Later printings are noted on the copyright page.
How to read it
Read the full guide to Weidenfeld & Nicolson 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.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, in 1971, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 November 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 …
Read the guide →