Cover of another edition of this book. The Routledge 1978 jacket has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
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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.
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The British edition, issued under the imprint Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Henley, appeared in 1978, the same year as the Pantheon first edition in New York. xi, 368 pages, 25 cm, ISBN 0 7100 0040 5. The verso of the first printing carries the 1978 first publication statement only; the 1980 reprint, issued alongside the first paperback (ISBN 0 7100 0555 5), adds a line saying it was reprinted and first published as a paperback in 1980, so copies with that line are later. Dealers describe the Routledge book as the first English edition. The Pantheon jacket reproduces part of Gerome's painting The Snake Charmer; no source we checked describes the British jacket, so do not assume it matches.
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.
Routledge, London, in 1978, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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