A Jonathan Cape first impression of Matilda comes in red cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, inside Quentin Blake's pictorial jacket priced £8.50 on the front flap. If the jacket shows a different price, or has been price-clipped, check the book itself carefully before paying a first edition price.
What to check:
- Publisher and date: Jonathan Cape, 1988.
- Binding: red cloth with the spine lettered in gilt.
- Jacket: Quentin Blake's design, priced £8.50 on the front flap.
- Copyright page: later Cape impressions add printing lines beneath the first publication statement, and they use the same binding, so this is the deciding check.
Several Cape impressions are dated 1988, so the year on the title page is not enough. The American Viking edition uses a number line; that rule does not apply to Cape's edition.
Value comes mainly from condition, an unclipped jacket and, above all, a genuine signature or inscription. Dahl signed many books, but so did forgers, so a signature needs provenance such as a dedication to a named person with a traceable history.
When grading, look first at the jacket spine for fading and at the head and foot of the spine for chips. Children read these books hard, and a crisp, unfaded jacket is the exception.
Sources: Lucius Books, Shapero and rarebooks.ie, with roalddahlfans.com.
