Booker Prize 2026 First Editions: The Shortlist for Collectors

The Booker Prize 2026 shortlist has six novels, and the winner will be named in London on 9 November. For first edition collectors the key point is that three of the six, by Douglas Stuart, Marlon James and Elizabeth Strout, came out in America before Britain, so the UK hardback of those is a first UK edition, not the true first. We found no earlier American edition of the other three.

The six shortlisted novels

• John of John, Douglas Stuart. Grove Press, 5 May 2026 (ISBN 978 0 8021 6719 4). The UK first is the Picador hardback of 21 May 2026 (ISBN 978 1 0350 8695 5).
• The Disappearers, Marlon James. Riverhead, 1 September 2026 (ISBN 978 0 5937 1720 2). The UK first is the Hamish Hamilton hardback of 3 September 2026 (ISBN 978 0 2417 1440 9).
• The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout. Random House, 5 May 2026 (ISBN 979 8 2171 5474 6). The UK first is the Viking hardback of 7 May 2026 (ISBN 978 0 2418 1430 7).
• Black Bag, Luke Kennard. John Murray, 12 March 2026 (ISBN 978 1 3998 2611 2).
• The End of Everything, M. John Harrison. Serpent's Tail, hardback, 18 June 2026 (ISBN 978 1 8008 1294 9).
• May We Feed the King, Rebecca Perry. Granta, hardback, 29 January 2026 (ISBN 978 1 8035 1386 7). It is Perry's first novel.

Stuart and James are previous winners: James in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings and Stuart in 2020 for Shuggie Bain.

Telling the first printing

We have not yet examined copyright pages for these six books, so we make no claims about their individual number lines or edition statements. The general rule holds: on a modern copyright page, a number line that still includes 1 means a first printing of that edition, and a line whose lowest number is 3 is a third printing. The number line is what separates a first printing from a later reprint. Our guide to number lines covers the layouts and the exceptions, and first edition against first American edition explains why the publication order matters.

Match the ISBN as well. A copy carrying a different ISBN is not the edition listed here, and a matching ISBN on its own does not prove a first printing.

A pattern from 2020

Stuart's winner followed the same route. Grove Press published Shuggie Bain in America on 11 February 2020, and Picador's British hardback did not appear until 6 August 2020 (ISBN 978 1 5290 1927 8). Our catalogue treats that Picador hardback as the first UK edition. A Picador export softback dated 20 February 2020 also exists, and we have not settled whether it should count as the first UK issue.

Signed copies

We have not confirmed any numbered or limited signed editions of the shortlisted novels from two sources, so we list none here. Our guide to signed and inscribed books explains what to check.

We will update this page after the announcement on 9 November.