# Is "The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1)" by Rick Riordan a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1) by Rick Riordan (Miramax Books / Hyperion, 2005) is identified by: The first printing copyright page carries the odd-then-even number line '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' under the Miramax Books/Hyperion imprint; gray cloth with silver detailing to the spine; first-issue jacket with the original price and the first-state cover art (boy before the Brooklyn Bridge), no movie tie-in. The US Miramax/Hyperion trade hardcover (July 2005) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing copyright page carries the odd-then-even number line '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' under the Miramax Books/Hyperion imprint; gray cloth with silver detailing to the spine; first-issue jacket with the original price and the first-state cover art (boy before the Brooklyn Bridge), no movie tie-in
- Publisher imprint reads Miramax Books / Hyperion
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rick Riordan |
| Publisher | Miramax Books / Hyperion |
| Year | 2005 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | The first printing copyright page carries the odd-then-even number line '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' under the Miramax Books/Hyperion imprint… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing copyright page carries the odd-then-even number line '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' under the Miramax Books/Hyperion imprint; gray cloth with silver detailing to the spine; first-issue jacket with the original price and the first-state cover art (boy before the Brooklyn Bridge), no movie tie-in.

## Is this the true first?
The US Miramax/Hyperion trade hardcover (July 2005) is the true first. Confirm the 1 in the number line and the intact original jacket. Early signed copies exist and are scarce.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings and book-club copies alter the number line (not the first-state '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' sequence), and movie-tie-in jackets postdate 2010; because reprints reuse plates, the number line is decisive.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1)* by Rick Riordan a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-lightning-thief-percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-1
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.