The Serpent Mage cover, Bantam Books 1992

The Serpent Mage (1992)

Publisher Bantam Books Year 1992 ISBN 9780593023860

Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 22 Oct 2026.

Market value

What decides the price

  • It is the first UK edition; the true first was published elsewhere.
  • 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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Sales record

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In short

Quick answer

Who published The Serpent Mage 1992 hardback?
Bantam Books, England, in 1992, in hardback.
Identification

How to identify this edition

The fourth Death Gate Cycle novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Its first American edition is the Bantam Spectra hardback, New York, 1992 (ISBN 0553083104). The British edition is the 1992 hardback from Bantam Press, the hardback imprint of Transworld, Bantam's London publishing arm. The ISBN separates them: the British book starts 0-593 (0593023862), the American one 0-553. Library records give 405 pages for the British book and 407 for the American. A British paperback (ISBN 0553403761) followed in July 1993 and is not the first.

Publisher's practice

How Bantam Books marked its first editions

  • Where a printing line appears on the copyright page, the lowest number shows the printing, whatever order the numbers run in; a line with a 1 normally indicates a first printing.
  • Book club editions are a common trap: their jackets usually carry no price on the front flap, so a priced jacket is one of the first things to check.

Read the full guide to Bantam Books 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

First impression

1992

At a glance

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.

Questions collectors ask

Frequently asked questions

Who published The Serpent Mage 1992 hardback?

Bantam Books, England, in 1992, in hardback.

Sources

Where these facts come from

Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 22 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.