First impression
1990At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £13.95→ first issue jacket
PossessionChatto & Windus
First edition
Hardback
Possession (1990)
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
Quick answer
- How do I identify a Possession first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £13.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the Possession first edition?
- Chatto & Windus, London, in 1990, in hardback.
What decides the price
- It is the first edition, which is the one collectors want.
- The first printing is told from later ones by 1 point of issue listed below.
- The original dust jacket carries much of the price for a book of this age; its condition matters as much as the book's.
- Condition is graded separately for book and jacket, from Fine down to Poor.
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How to identify this edition
Published by Chatto & Windus, London, in 1990 (ISBN 0701132604) and winner of that year's Booker Prize; Random House issued the American edition. The UK first is bound in blue boards with gilt lettering on the spine and has a blue ribbon marker. The pictorial jacket on first impressions is printed with a price of £13.95, so a clipped jacket loses useful evidence. Later impressions exist (dealers offer a second impression), so check the copyright page for any impression statement. The top edge is stained, but dealers record the colour as green on some first printings and blue on others, so do not rely on it.
How Chatto & Windus marked its first editions
- Chatto & Windus did not use a special mark for first editions: it told H. S. Boutell so in its replies to his surveys of publishers' practice.
Read the full guide to Chatto & Windus 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.
Printing by printing
Printings and states
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Possession first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £13.95. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the Possession first edition?
Chatto & Windus, London, in 1990, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- Possession (Byatt novel), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Possession, Chatto and Windus 1990, Open Library (openlibrary.org)
- Byatt, Possession, signed first UK printing, Ashton Rare Books (ashtonrarebooks.com)
- Byatt, Possession, signed first edition, First and Fine via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- Byatt, Possession, Chatto 1990, Tindley and Everett (ABA) via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- Byatt, Possession, first impression, Grimes Hill Books via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- Byatt, Possession, second impression, Hunter Books via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- A.S. Byatt, Possession, First UK Edition 1990, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
- A.S. Byatt, Possession, First UK Edition 1990, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
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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