Staring at the Sun | Uncorrected Proof (Jonathan Cape, 1986)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Staring at the Sun. London: Jonathan Cape, 1986. Pp. 195 + [1]. 20.6 x 13.8 cm. Uncorrected Proof in brown, white and orange pictorial wraps. Image is similar to the final dust jacket. White lettering, except ‘UNCORRECTED PROOF’ in black along bottom.

Provisional U.K. publication date set for 18 September 1986, for a provisional price of £9.95.

Staring at the Sun (Marlies Louwes, 1997)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Staring at the Sun. Groningen: Marlies Louwes, 1997. Pp. [12]. 11.7 x 18.5 cm.

Limited, letterpress edition of the opening section of Julian Barnes’s novel Staring at the Sun. This pamphlet features artwork by Marlies Louwes. The colophon states: ‘Typeset in Bembo and Printed in 40 copies on Zerkall-Bütten.’ Text reprinted with the author’s permission. Yellow paper cover. 

Talking It Over (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991; Canadian Edition)


Notes on this edition: First Canadian edition – Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. $24.00. The Canadian edition features a cut fore edge, while the nearly identical first American edition has an uncut fore edge.

Descriptive Bibliography:

Title Page: Talking It Over | A NOVEL BY | JULIAN BARNES | [Knopf device] | ALFRED A. KNOPF  NEW YORK · TORONTO | 1991

Copyright Page: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK | Copyright © 1991 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved under International and Pan-American | Copyright Conventions. Published in Canada in 1991 by | Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, and simultaneously | in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. | Originally published in Great Britain by | Jonathan Cape Ltd., London. | Grateful acknowledgement is made to Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., for | permission to reprint excerpts from “Three Cigarettes in an Ash | Tray” by Eddie Miller and W. S. Stevenson, copyright © 1982 by | Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., and excerpts from “Walkin’ After | Midnight” by Alan Block and Don Hecht, copyright © 1956, | copyright renewed 1984 by Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. All rights | reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. | Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Talking it over | ISBN 0-394-22239-3 | 1. Title. | PR6052.A6657T34  1991   823’.914   C91-093984-5 | Manufactured in the United States of America | FIRST CANADIAN EDITION

Collation: 21.2 x 13.9 cm. Trimmed pages. Pp. [i-x, 1-4] 5-47 [48-52] 53-67 [68-70] 71-81 [82-84] 85-95 [96-98] 99-109 [110-112] 113-127 [128-132] 133-193 [194-198] 199-211 [212-214] 215-225 [226-228] 229-235 [236-238] 239-275 [276-278] [Note: no even page numbers were printed]. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘ALSO BY JULIAN BARNES | A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters | Staring at the Sun | Flaubert’s Parrot | Before She Met Me | Metroland’. [iii]: ‘Talking It Over’. [iv]: blank. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. [ix]: ‘He lies like an eye-witness. | RUSSIAN SAYING’. [x]: blank. [1]: ‘Talking It Over’. [2]: blank. [3]-275: text. [276-278]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14.8 cm. Blue boards, black quarter binding silver blocked on spine. Silver stamped initials ‘JB’ to lower front cover and embossed Knopf devise to lower back cover. White endpapers. Dust jacket has black upper panel with multi-colored images of British currency, Patsy Cline, and map of Toulouse. Lettering in white (title) and black (author), with author lettering inset in silver rectangle. Lower panel and flaps are white with black lettering, except the titles of previous novels are in red italics. Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson. Photograph of the author by Miriam Berkley located on back flap.

A napba nézve | Staring at the Sun (Ulpius-ház, 2002; Hungarian)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. A napba nézve | Staring at the Sun. Budapest: Ulpius-ház, 2002. Pp. 305 + [7]. 20 x 12.4 cm. Translated by Lukács Laura. ISBN: 9789639475052. (Hungarian).

Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds (La Trobe University Press, 2017; Foreword)


Notes on this edition:  Philippe Paquet. Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds. Translated by Julie Rose. Carlton, Australia: La Trobe University Press (in conjunction with Black Inc.), 2017. Pp. 664. ISBN: 9781863959209

Foreword by Julian Barnes on pages xi-xiii. Blurb by Julian Barnes also printed on the back of jacket. Barnes’s introduction was also published in The Australian newspaper.

The Pedant in the Kitchen (Atlantic Books, 2013)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. The Pedant in the Kitchen. London: Atlantic Books, 2013. Pp. 136 + [8]. 19.8 x 13 cm. ISBN: 9781782390947. £7.99.

Reissued paperback with new cover art and an introduction by Mark Hix.

Talking It Over (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991)


Notes on this edition: First American edition – New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. $21.00. The American edition features an uncut fore edge, while the nearly identical first Canadian edition has a cut fore edge.

Pictured in this entry are three title pages — one unsigned, one signed, and one inscribed from Barnes to Christopher Buckley during a visit to Christopher Hitchens’s home in Washington D.C.: “to Christopher B. | from | Julian B. | Chez the Hitch | October 1991”.

Also photographed is a collection of promotional inserts that accompanied hardback review copies of the novel distributed to reviewers.

Descriptive Bibliography: 

Title Page: Talking It Over | A NOVEL BY | JULIAN BARNES | [Knopf device] | ALFRED A. KNOPF  NEW YORK | 1991

Copyright Page: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK | PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. | Copyright © 1991 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved under International and Pan-American | Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by | Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. Distributed by Random | House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain | by Jonathan Cape Limited, London. | Grateful acknowledgement is made to Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., for | permission to reprint excerpts from “Three Cigarettes in an Ash | Tray” by Eddie Miller and W. S. Stevenson, copyright © 1982 by | Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., and excerpts from “Walkin’ After | Midnight” by Alan Block and Don Hecht, copyright © 1956, | copyright renewed 1984 by Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. All rights | reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. | ISBN 0-679-40525-9 | LC 91-52725 | Manufactured in the United States of America | FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

Collation: 21.2 x 14.3 cm. Untrimmed pages. Pp. [i-x, 1-4] 5-47 [48-52] 53-67 [68-70] 71-81 [82-84] 85-95 [96-98] 99-109 [110-112] 113-127 [128-132] 133-193 [194-198] 199-211 [212-214] 215-225 [226-228] 229-235 [236-238] 239-275 [276-278] [Note: no even page numbers were printed]. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘ALSO BY JULIAN BARNES | A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters | Staring at the Sun | Flaubert’s Parrot | Before She Met Me | Metroland’. [iii]: ‘Talking It Over’. [iv]: blank. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. [ix]: ‘He lies like an eye-witness. | RUSSIAN SAYING’. [x]: blank. [1]: ‘Talking It Over’. [2]: blank. [3]-275: text. [276-278]: blank.

General description: Binding 22 x 15 cm. Blue boards, black quarter binding silver blocked on spine. Silver stamped initials ‘JB’ to lower front cover and embossed Knopf devise to lower back cover. White endpapers. Dust jacket has black upper panel with multi-colored images of British currency, Patsy Cline, and map of Toulouse. Lettering in white (title) and black (author), with author lettering inset in silver rectangle. Lower panel and flaps are white with black lettering, except the titles of previous novels are in red italics. Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson. Photograph of the author by Miriam Berkley located on back flap.

Pulse (Vintage Books, 2011)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Pulse. London: Vintage Books, 2011. Pp. 228 + [4]. 19.7 x 12.6 cm. ISBN: 9780099552475.

Stories included: East Wind | At Phil & Joanna’s 1: 60/40 | Sleeping with John Updike | At Phil & Joanna’s 2: Marmalade | Gardeners’ World | At Phil & Joanna’s 3: Look, No Hands | Trespass | At Phil & Joanna’s 4: One in Five | Marriage Lines | The Limner | Complicity | Harmony | Carcassonne | Pulse

Letters from London 1990-1995 (Picador, 1995)


Notes on this edition: First edition – London: Picador, 1995. £6.99.

Descriptive Bibliography:

Title Page: JULIAN BARNES | Letters from London | 1990-1995 | PICADOR

Copyright Page: [Picador device] | First published 1995 by Picador | an imprint of Macmillan General Books | Cavaye Place London SW10 9PG | and Basingstroke | Associated companies throughout the world | ISBN 0 330 34116 2 | Copyright © Julian Barnes 1995 | The right of Julian Barnes to be identified as the | author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance | with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. | The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following for permission | to reproduce previously published material: Faber and Faber for part of | ‘Bridge for the Living’ by Philip Larkin, from The Collected Poems of Philip Larkin, | edited by Anthony Thwaite; Weidenfeld and Nicholson for Alan Clark’s Diaries; | and HarperCollins for Margaret Thatcher: The Downing Street Years. | All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission | of this publication may be made without written permission. | No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied | or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance | with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). | Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to | this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution | and civil claims for damages. | 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 | A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from | the British Library | Typeset by CentraCet Limited, Cambridge | Printed by Mackays of Chatham plc, Kent | This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, | by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, | or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent | in any form of binding or cover other than that in which | it is published and without a similar condition including this | condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Collation: 19.5 x 12.8 cm. Pp. [i-vi] vii-xvi 1-352. [i]: ‘Letters from London | 1990-1995’. [ii]: ‘Other books by Julian Barnes in Picador | Metroland | Before She Met Me | Flaubert’s Parrot | Staring at the Sun | A History of the World in 10½ Chapters | Talking It Over | The Porcupine’. [iii]: title page. [iv]: copyright page. [v]: ‘to Jay and Helen’. [vi]: blank. vii-viii: contents. ix-xvi: preface. 1-352: text.

General description: Binding 19.5 x 13.1 cm. White card wrappers with French flaps. Lettered in black and red with multiple color images reflecting content of essays (chess piece, stamp, pictures of the Royal Family, etc.). Red endpapers. Cover photographs by Andrew Heaps. Author photograph by Gillian Edelstein [sic; Jillian Edelstein] on back flap.


Later Printing (4th Edition): The pagination and jacket art are the same as the first printing, but the front flap shows a price increase to £7.99.