4 Dan Brown first editions are documented on this shelf, from Digital Fortress (1998) to The Da Vinci Code (2003) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Dan Brown title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Dan Brown copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Digital Fortress — 1998 · St. Martin's Press / Thomas Dunne BooksThe first printing is identified by the copyright-page statement 'First Edition: February 1998' together with the complete descending number line '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.' Bound in black paper-covered boards with silver spine lettering, 371 pp., in a Steve Snider-designed dust jacket with rear-panel blurbs (Nance, Lasker, Pogue, Ulsch) and a priced jacket (price present at the flap). As Brown's debut the first…. US-only true first: St. Martin's Press, New York, February 1998 was the world first — there is no earlier UK edition (British editions did not appear until after Brown's later fame). The 1998 US hardcover is the sole edition collected as the first. Post-fame book-club printings exist; a club copy lacks the 'First Edition: February 1998' statement and the full number line on the copyright page, and typically shows a rear-board blindstamp and/or a jacket without the flap price.
- Angels & Demons — 2000 · Pocket BooksFirst edition, first printing: New York, Pocket Books, 2000 — the copyright page must state 'First Pocket Books hardcover printing May 2000' with the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Binding is quarter red cloth over orange paper-covered boards with spine lettering in gilt, in the unclipped jacket with the price present at the front flap. The pre-fame first printing was small (reported at about 25,000…. New York: Pocket Books hardcover, May 2000 is the true first edition and the series high spot for the first Robert Langdon novel. UK first publication was only the Corgi paperback (Transworld, 2001) — there was no earlier UK hardcover. The 2003 Atria Books hardcover reissue, published after The Da Vinci Code's success, is a first-thus trap frequently misdescribed as a first edition. No book-club points are documented in the sources consulted. The chief hazards are the 2003 Atria hardcover reissue and later Pocket printings with truncated number lines — the May 2000 printing statement plus the complete 10-to-1 number line must both be present.
- Deception Point — 2001 · Pocket BooksPocket Books, New York, 2001, hardcover in jacket, ISBN 0-671-02737-9 / 978-0-671-02737-7, approx. 6 the printed price x 9 the printed price in. The first printing is identified by a complete number line on the copyright page running down to 1; dealers uniformly describe the true first as having the 'complete number line on copyright page', and any Pocket line that has lost the 1 is a later 2001 printing of the…. Census claim confirmed. The Pocket Books US hardcover of 2001 is the true first in any language and there is no competing 2001 UK edition: Transworld/Corgi did not publish Deception Point in Britain until 2004 (a paperback, ISBN 0-552-15176-9), issuing the backlist only after The Da Vinci Code broke in 2003, so every UK issue is a reprint. This is Brown's third novel and completes the pre-fame quartet with…. No book-club printing of the Pocket 2001 hardcover is documented in the dealer descriptions and auction records consulted, and none should be asserted without a copy in hand. The documented traps are all publisher reissues carrying their own later ISBNs and printing statements: the Pocket paperback of 2002, the Atria hardcover reissue of 2003 (frequently mis-catalogued as a first because it is a hardcover with a….
- The Da Vinci Code — 2003 · DoubledayFirst edition, first printing: New York, Doubleday, 2003, 454 pp., black paper boards with black cloth spine lettered in gilt, full-size trim (about 9 the printed price by 6 the printed price inches). The copyright page reads 'April 2003 / First Edition' with the complete number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. The jacket must be priced (US and Canadian prices present at the flap); first-printing jacket flaps show a…. New York: Doubleday, 2003 is the true first edition. The first UK edition (London: Bantam Press, 2003, with different jacket art) followed and is collected separately as the first GB printing. Later 'special illustrated' and anniversary reissues are first-thus traps. The book-club edition is a documented and dangerous mimic: it also states 'First Edition' with the same full number line and retains the text errors. Tells: it is about an inch shorter (roughly 8 the printed price inches tall), the jacket carries no price, and it is bound in cheap paper boards without the cloth spine.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Dan Kavanagh (Julian Barnes), Daphne du Maurier, David Foster Wallace, David Goodis, David Mitchell, Denis Johnson.
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