Jonathan Cape is a London literary publisher founded in 1921, first UK publisher of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and now a Vintage imprint at Penguin Random House.
Jonathan Cape is a publisher based in London, founded in 1921. We track 605 editions it published between 1899 and 2025, 270 of them first editions across 600 books. How Jonathan Cape marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London literary publisher founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape and his partner George Wren Howard, and today an imprint of Vintage within Penguin Random House.
Trading started on 1 January 1921 at 11 Gower Street, Bloomsbury, with Cape supplying the publishing know-how and Howard overseeing design and production. Its first title was a two-volume reissue of C. M. Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta, priced at nine guineas, which sold out and went back to press. Edward Garnett served as the firm's reader until his death in 1937.
Cape published T. E. Lawrence (Revolt in the Desert, 1927; Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1935) and, from Casino Royale (1953) onwards, the UK first editions of Ian Fleming's James Bond books. Its list also took in Roald Dahl, Hugh Lofting, Arthur Ransome, James Joyce and Robert Frost, then Kingsley Amis and John Lennon in the 1960s, along with Len Deighton, and J. G. Ballard and Salman Rushdie in the 1970s. After Cape's death in 1960, Tom Maschler ran the list for over 30 years.
In 1969 Cape combined with Chatto & Windus to protect both firms' independence, and The Bodley Head and Virago later joined the group. Random House bought the group in 1987, and Cape now sits in Vintage at Penguin Random House.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Jonathan Cape's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Jonathan Cape first editions
What to look for
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.
Traps
Read the whole "First published" line. On You Only Live Twice (1964) the first impression reads "First Published 1964"; copies reading "First Published March 1964" are a later state, generally described as the second printing.
Reviews on the jacket flaps. Press reviews printed on the flaps generally indicate a jacket from a later impression; on Casino Royale (1953) a newspaper review on the inner front flap marks a later run.
Jacket states.Live and Let Die (1954) exists in three jacket states on first-impression copies. The first has no credit for the jacket designer, Kenneth Lewis, on the front flap; the second has the credit in the gap between the blurb and the price; the third has it directly beneath the blurb.
Book club copies. Book Club Associates editions usually carry no price on the jacket and show the BCA name or logo on the binding or the jacket.
Examples
Casino Royale (1953): "First Published 1953" on the back of the title page with no later printings listed, black cloth, and a jacket priced 10s. 6d. with no review on the front flap.
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 li
How many Jonathan Cape books does MyVolumes track?
We track 605 editions published by Jonathan Cape, 270 of them first editions, across 600 books.
