Something to Answer for (1968)

First published by Faber and Faber, London, in November 1968; it won the first Booker Prize in 1969. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1969, is the American first. It predates thirteen-digit ISBNs (catalogued as 0 571 08557 1). Bound in orange boards with black spine lettering; the unclipped jacket carries the dual price 30s / £1.50. Some copies survive with the publisher's band announcing the 1969 Booker win; as the prize came after publication, the band is a later addition and its absence does not indicate a later printing, though copies with it are sought after. Dealers rate this among the scarcest Booker winners in first edition. Faber reissued the novel in 2008 (Faber Finds), 2011 and 2018, the last reusing the first edition jacket design with added text.