First impression
1983At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: £6.50 net→ first issue jacket
First edition
Hardback
The Witches (1983)
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 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.
Owners and wanters are told when a figure is ready.
Quick answer
- How do I identify a The Witches first edition?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £6.50 net. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published The Witches first edition?
- Jonathan Cape, London, in 1983, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
Octavo in publisher's cloth boards with the title gilt on the spine; dealers variously call the colour green, blue-green or petrol blue. Quentin Blake drew the colour pictorial jacket and the line illustrations throughout. A first-issue jacket shows £6.50 net printed on the front flap, so check for clipping. Cape reprinted the book many times and later impressions in unclipped jackets are common (tenth and eleventh impressions are regularly offered), so confirm the copyright page shows the first impression. ISBN 0224021656.
How Jonathan Cape marked its first editions
- UK first editions name Jonathan Cape on the title page and carry a "First Published" statement with the year on the reverse of the title page. A first impression shows that statement with no later printings listed beneath it.
- Live and Let Die (1954) exists in three jacket states on first-impression copies, told apart by whether and where the jacket designer's credit appears on the front flap.
- Press reviews printed on the jacket flaps generally indicate a jacket from a later impression; on Casino Royale (1953) a Times review on the front flap marks a later run.
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 Witches first edition?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: £6.50 net. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published The Witches first edition?
Jonathan Cape, London, in 1983, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- The witches, Cape 1983 edition record, Open Library (openlibrary.org)
- The Witches, Lucius Books via AbeBooks (abebooks.com)
- The Witches first edition search results (Bradhurst Fine Editions, Richard Thornton Books, Shellhouse Books, Larsen Books proof), AbeBooks (abebooks.com)
- The Witches, Jonkers Rare Books (jonkers.co.uk)
- The Witches, Jonkers Rare Books (jonkers.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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