Penguin Books, 1991 cover
Cover of the Penguin Books, 1991 edition of this book. The Jonathan Cape 1981 cover has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
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Jonathan Cape published Midnight's Children in London on 12 March 1981 as a hardback, ISBN 022401823X, with a jacket designed by Bill Botten. It has 446 pages and is about 25 cm tall, the same as the Knopf edition (New York, 1981, copyright 1980, marked 1st American ed), so check the title page imprint. Dealers describe the first impression as stating First published 1981 on the copyright page with no further printings listed; Cape reprinted in 1982, so an added impression line marks a later copy. The Book Club Associates edition (London, 1982) also has 446 pages but is about 20 cm. Cape's Booker 25th anniversary edition is dated 1993 (ISBN 022403829X). The first paperback is Picador, London, 1982, 462 pages.
A Jonathan Cape first impression carries "First published" with the year on the back of the title page and nothing else, because Cape recorded every later impression in the same place.
Read the full guide to Jonathan Cape 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.
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The cover image shows this book but may not be this edition or printing.
Jonathan Cape, London, in 1981, in paperback.
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.
A book club edition is a copy printed for a mail-order club and sold to members, often looking almost identical …
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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