First edition Paperback

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

Publisher Pan Year 1979 ISBN 9780330258647

Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 16 Oct 2026.

Quick answer

Who published The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first edition?
Pan, London, in 1979, in paperback.
Market value
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How to identify this edition

The true first edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a paperback. Pan Books published it as a paperback original on 12 October 1979, with 158 pages, before any hardback appeared. Collectors who assume the hardback came first pay for the wrong book.

What to check:

  • Publisher: Pan Books, 1979.
  • Format: paperback in pictorial wrappers, 158 pages.
  • ISBN: 0 330 25864 8.
  • Copyright page: later Pan printings add printing statements, so check that yours shows the first printing only.

The Arthur Barker hardback is a separate edition, published later. It is collectable in its own right, but it is not the first edition. A Canadian Pan issue from 1979 also exists.

Paperbacks of this age are rarely in good condition. Spines are creased from reading, the pages tan with age, and the covers rub at the edges. A first printing with a flat, uncreased spine and bright covers is genuinely scarce, and condition drives value far more than for a hardback.

Signed copies need provenance. Douglas Adams signed at many events, and a signature with a dated inscription or a photograph from a signing is worth much more than one without.

Sources: rarebooks.ie, John Atkinson Books, Lucius Books and Bauman Rare Books.

Printings and states

First impression

1979
Binding
Pictorial card wrappers.

Not yet researched

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.

Traps and later printings: The Arthur Barker hardback is a separate, later edition. A Canadian Pan issue of 1979 also exists.

Published 12 October 1979, before any hardback, so this paperback is the true first edition.

Value guide

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Values by condition appear once we have estimates or recorded sales for this printing.

Price history

Price history coming soon
Recorded sales of this printing appear here as we verify them.

Questions collectors ask

Frequently asked questions

Who published The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first edition?

Pan, London, in 1979, in paperback.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  • Wikipedia
  • rarebooks.ie
  • John Atkinson Books
  • Lucius Books
  • Bauman Rare Books
  • Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(novel)
  • John Atkinson Books https://johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk/book/douglas-adams-the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-first-paperback-edition-1979/
  • Lucius Books https://www.luciusbooks.com/shop/gift-ideas/the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-sc28056
  • Existential Ennui (collector blog) https://existentialennui.com/2011/10/hitch-hikers-guide-to-galaxy-by-douglas.html
  • Fonts In Use https://fontsinuse.com/uses/52310/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-1979-book

Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 16 October 2026.