Uncle Tungsten first edition cover, Picador 2001
First edition Hardback

Uncle Tungsten (2001)

Publisher Picador Year 2001 ISBN 9780330390279

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 edition, which is the one collectors want.
  • 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

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.

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In short

Quick answer

Who published the Uncle Tungsten first edition?
Picador, London, in 2001, in hardback.
Identification

How to identify this edition

The first UK edition is the Picador hardback in dust jacket, London 2001, ISBN 0 330 39027 9, published at the end of October 2001; vii, 300 pages with four pages of photographic plates, 24 cm. The American edition (ISBN 0 375 40448 1) is separate. The Picador hardback went to several printings, so check the copyright page for a first impression. Some listings credit the same ISBN to Macmillan or Pan Macmillan Australia; it is the same book.

Publisher's practice

How Picador marked its first editions

  • Picador copyright pages carry a printer's number line, and the lowest number shows the impression: a first impression keeps the 1, while a line ending at 11, for example, is an eleventh printing.
  • Pan Macmillan's own collecting guidance gives the same rule: a 1 anywhere in the number line usually marks a first printing, and a line without it is a later printing.

Read the full guide to Picador 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

2001

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 Uncle Tungsten first edition?

Picador, London, in 2001, 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.