Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Pinnsvinet | The Porcupine. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1994. Pp. 103 + [5]. 21.5 x 14 cm. Translated by Knut Ofstad. ISBN: 8203200079. (Norwegian).
Author: rrobe02s
The Porcupine (Jonathan Cape, 1992)
Notes on this edition: Because Jonathan Cape published Julian Barnes’s novel The Porcupine after Obsidian Press published the Bulgarian translation, this edition is listed as the “First British Edition”.
Descriptive Bibliography: First British edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1992. £9.99.
Title Page: THE PORCUPINE | JULIAN BARNES | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | LONDON
Copyright Page: First published 1992 | © Julian Barnes 1992 | Jonathan Cape, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA | Julian Barnes has asserted his right | under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 | to be identified as the author of this work | A CIP catalogue record for this book | is available from the British Library | ISBN 0-224-03618-1 | Printed in Great Britain by | Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent
Collation: 20.2 x 13.9 cm. Pp. [i-vi] 1-138. [i]: ‘THE PORCUPINE’. [ii]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME | FLAUBERT’S PARROT | STARING AT THE SUN | A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 10½ CHAPTERS | TALKING IT OVER’. [iii]: title page. [iv]: copyright page. [v]: ‘to Dimitrina’. [vi]: blank. 1-138: text.
General description: Binding 20.9 x 14 cm. Burgundy boards, gold blocked on spine. Sky blue endpapers. Burgundy dust jacket lettered in white (author) and sky blue (title). Color photograph of man carrying an umbrella on upper panel. Image is reproduced in smaller dimensions on lower panel. Jacket photo by Akira Nagamatsu with design by Peter Dyer. White jacket flaps lettered in black. Author photograph by Jillian Edelstein on back flap.
Бодливо свинче (Bodlivo svinche) | The Porcupine (Obsidian Press, 1992; Bulgarian)
Notes on this edition: Obsidian Press published the Bulgarian translation of Julian Barnes’s novel The Porcupine prior to Jonathan Cape’s U.K. edition, thus making it officially the true first edition of the novel.
While in Bulgaria to promote the translation of Flaubert’s Parrot, Barnes met his translator Dimitrina Kondeva, and they soon built a friendship. Barnes wrote to Kondeva for feedback and insights into a new novel he was writing, The Porcupine, which centered on a fictional country similar to Bulgaria. In addition to translating The Porcupine, Kondeva later became Barnes’s Bulgarian publisher at Obsidian Press. She describes and republishes much of her correspondence with Barnes in the collection Julian Barnes: Contemporary Critical Perspectives. [Kondeva, Dimitrina. “The Story of Julian Barnes’s The Porcupine: An Epistolary ½ Chapter.” Eds. Sebastian Groes and Peter Childs. Continuum, 2011. pp. 81-91.]
Barnes scholar Vanessa Guignery has written an insightful account of Barnes’s development of The Porcupine based on an analysis of his correspondence with Kondeva. [Guignery, Vanessa. “Untangling the Intertwined Threads of Fiction and Reality in The Porcupine (1992) by Julian Barnes.” in Pre and Post-publication Itineraries of the Contemporary Novel in English. Publibook, 2007: 49-71.]
Descriptive Bibliography: Бодливо свинче. софия: обсидиан, 1992. (Bodlivo svinche. Sofia: Obsidian Press, 1992). Translated by Dimitrina Kondeva. ISBN: 954-8240-01-7
Title page: Джулиан Барнс | Бодливо | свинче | превод от английски | Димитрина Кондева | издателство | обсидиан | софия | 1992
Copyright page: JULIAN BARNES | THE PORCUPINE | © Julian Barnes 1992 | First published in Bulgaria 1992 | by Obsidian Press, Sofia | [rule] | Превод © Димитрина Кондева | Худ. Оформление © Hиколай Пекарев | ISBN 954-8240-01-7
Collation: Pp. [1-6] 7-17 [18-19] 20-21 [22-23] 24-25 [26-27] 28-29 [30-31] 32-127 [128]. [1]: ‘Джулиан | Барнс | Бодливо | свинче | обсидиан’. [2]: blank. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘Hа Димитрина’. [6]: blank. 7-8: introduction. 9-127: text. [128]: ‘Джулиан Барнс | Бодливо свинче | Английска | [additional text in Cyrillic, as pictured above]’.
Parlem-ne | Talking It Over (Edicions 62, 1994; Catalan)
Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Parlem-ne. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1994. Pp. 252 + [4]. 19.4 x 13.1 cm. Translated by Elisabet Ràfols. ISBN: 8429737200. (Catalan).
England, England | Uncorrected Proof (Jonathan Cape, 1998)
Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. England, England. London: Jonathan Cape, 1998. Pp. 270. 21.6 x 13.4 cm.
Uncorrected Proof of Julian Barnes’s novel England, England in colored card wraps with white lettering. ‘A JONATHAN CAPE UNCORRECTED PROOF’ along bottom of front cover. Publication information along bottom of back panel with a provisional publication date of 3 September 1998.
Une fille, qui danse | The Sense of an Ending (Mercure de France, 2013; French)
Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Une fille, qui danse. Paris: Mercure de France, 2013. Pp. 192 [193] + [13]. 20.5 x 14 cm. Translated by Jean-Pierre Aoustin. ISBN: 9782715232495. (French).
The French translation of Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending features a red wrap-around band promoting his selection as the winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize.
Flaubert’s Parrot (Vintage Books, 2009; “Vintage Barnes”)
Notes on this edition: Flaubert’s Parrot. London: Vintage Books, 2009. Pp. 190. 19.7 x 12.9 cm. ISBN: 9780099540588.
Vintage Book reissued their standard paperback edition of Flaubert’s Parrot as part of their “Vintage” author series. The front cover states in the upper-right corner “Vintage Barnes”.
Flaubert’s Parrot (Alfred A. Knopf, 1985; Paperback)
Notes about this edition: Flaubert’s Parrot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. Pp. 190. 21.2 x 14 cm. Paperbound with setting and cover illustration as in the first U.S. hardback edition.
This paperback edition of Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot appears nearly identical to the first edition hardback published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985. The title pages the copyright pages are identical, except that this paperback edition does not state “First American Edition” and does not include information about where the book was printed, as in the hardback edition. The ISBN listed on the copyright page is for the hardback edition. This paperback edition contains no marking indicating it is an American book club edition, but this is a likely explanation.
Flaubertin papukaija | Flaubert’s Parrot (WSOY, 1994; Finnish)
Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubertin papukaija. Porvoo – Helsinki – Juva: WSOY, 1994. Pp. 277 [278] + [2]. 19.7 x 12.8 cm. Translated by Kristiina Drews. ISBN: 9510199176. (Finnish).
התוכי של פלובר | Flaubert’s Parrot (Zmora-Bitan, 1987; Hebrew)
Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. התוכי של פלובר | Flaubert’s Parrot. Tel-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan, 1987. Pp. 188 + [4]. 21.5 x 14 cm. Translated by כרמית גיא. (Hebrew).
The Hebrew edition was republished in 2005.