# Is "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (Dutton, 2010) is identified by: For the US Dutton first printing (ISBN 978-0-525-95165-0), the copyright page reads 'First printing, October 2010' with the publisher's split number line (odds ascending, evens descending: 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2). Fall of Giants was a near-simultaneous worldwide publication in late September 2010, with the UK Macmillan and US Dutton first printings appearing together; neither cleanly precedes the other.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- For the US Dutton first printing (ISBN 978-0-525-95165-0), the copyright page reads 'First printing, October 2010' with the publisher's split number line (odds ascending, evens descending: 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2)
- Bound in red boards quarter-bound in black with gilt spine lettering and the author's initials to the front board, with pictorial map endpapers; the first-issue dust jacket should retain its printed price
- Volume one of the Century Trilogy
- Publisher imprint reads Dutton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ken Follett |
| Publisher | Dutton |
| Year | 2010 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | For the US Dutton first printing (ISBN 978-0-525-95165-0), the copyright page reads 'First printing, October 2010' with the publisher's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
For the US Dutton first printing (ISBN 978-0-525-95165-0), the copyright page reads 'First printing, October 2010' with the publisher's split number line (odds ascending, evens descending: 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2). Bound in red boards quarter-bound in black with gilt spine lettering and the author's initials to the front board, with pictorial map endpapers; the first-issue dust jacket should retain its printed price. Volume one of the Century Trilogy.

## Is this the true first?
Fall of Giants was a near-simultaneous worldwide publication in late September 2010, with the UK Macmillan and US Dutton first printings appearing together; neither cleanly precedes the other. The UK Macmillan edition (a thick octavo of about 851 pages in publisher's boards with map endpapers) is generally treated as the first edition for a British author, so a blanket 'US Dutton first' claim is not supportable.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club and later printings lack the full first-printing number line and the 'First printing, October 2010' statement, and are usually unpriced; they are not first printings.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Fall of Giants* by Ken Follett a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/fall-of-giants
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.