First impression
1925At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: 7s. 6d. net→ first issue jacket
First edition
Hardback
The Informer (1925)
Publisher Jonathan Cape
Year 1925
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 24 Oct 2026.
Market value
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.
Sales record
No sales recorded yet
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.
Pro members with this book on their wantlist are emailed when it sells under their price.
Quick answer
- How do I identify a The Informer first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: 7s. 6d. net. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published The Informer first edition?
- Jonathan Cape, London, in 1925, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
A true first, published by Jonathan Cape in London in 1925; it won that year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Most listings give 272 pages. The boards are green cloth (some dealers say olive green) with gilt lettering on the spine. The verso of the title page carries a first publication statement dated 1925, and the first-issue jacket has 7s. 6d. net printed on the front flap. Many copies lack the jacket and facsimile jackets are sold, so check for the printed flap price. Knopf published an American edition in New York the same year, bound in black cloth decorated in colour and running to more pages; it is not the Cape first. Sceptre reissued the novel in 1989.
How Jonathan Cape marked its first editions
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.
- Cape told H. S. Boutell that it printed "First published" and the year on the back of the title page and added a line such as "Second impression" with its year for each unrevised reprint. The Ahearns' publisher list for ILAB gives the same rule: "First published (Year)" on first editions, with later printings noted.
- On the Bond novels, a first impression shows the "First Published" statement with no later printings listed beneath it.
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.
Printing by printing
Printings and states
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a The Informer first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: 7s. 6d. net. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published The Informer first edition?
Jonathan Cape, London, in 1925, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- The Informer, first edition, Baughman's Modern Firsts via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- The Informer, first edition first printing, Magnum Opus Rare Books via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- The Informer, first edition first impression, Peter Harrington via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)
- Liam O'Flaherty, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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