Category: Books by Julian Barnes

Nothing to Be Frightened Of (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008)

Notes on this edition: First edition – New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. $24.95. 

Descriptive Bibliography:

Title Page: Nothing | to Be | Frightened Of | [decorative rule] | Julian Barnes | [Knopf device] | ALFRED A. KNOPF, NEW YORK, 2008

Copyright Page: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK | PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF | Copyright © 2008 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, | a division of Random House, Inc., New York. | www.aaknopf.com | Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of | The Random House Group Limited, London. | A portion of this book appeared in The New Yorker | Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of | Random House, Inc. | Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data | Barnes, Julian. | Nothing to be frightened of / Julian Barnes.—1st American ed. | p.  cm. | | ISBN 978-0-307-26963-8 | 1. Barnes, Julian—Psychology. 2. Authors, English—20th century— | Biography. 3. Fear of death. 4. Barnes, Julian—Philosophy. | 5. Barnes, Julian—Religion. 6. Barnes, Julian—Childhood and youth. | 7. Barnes, Julian—Family. I. Title. | PR6052.A6657Z46 2008 823’.914B—dc22 2008019603 | Manufactured in the United States of America | First United States Edition

Collation: 21.2 x 14.0 cm. Pp. [i-viii, 1-4] 5-[244] [beginning with page 5, all odd pages are numbered, while all even pages are unnumbered] [245-248]. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘BY THE SAME AUTHOR | FICTION | Arthur & George | The Lemon Table | Love, etc. | England, England | Cross Channel | The Porcupine | Talking It Over |  A History of the World in 10½ Chapters | Staring at the Sun | Flaubert’s Parrot | Before She Met Me | Metroland | NONFICTION | The Pedant in the Kitchen | Something to Declare | Letters From London, 1990–1995 | TRANSLATION | In the Land of Pain | by Alphonse Daudet’. [iii]: ‘NOTHING | to Be | Frightened Of’. [iv]: blank. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to P.’. [viii]: blank. [1]: ‘Nothing | to Be | Frightened Of’. [2]: blank. [3-4]: text. 5-[244]: text. [245-246]: blank. [247]: ‘A NOTE ON THE TYPE | Pierre SImon Fournier le jeune, who designed the type used | in this book, was both an originator and a collector of types. | His types are old style in character and sharply cut. In 1764 | and 1766 he published his Manual typographique, a treatise on | the history of French types and printing, and on what many | consider his most important contribution to typography— | the measurement of type by the point system. | Composed by Stratford Publishing Services | Brattleboro, Vermont | Printed and bound by R. R. Donnelley | Harrisonburg, Virginia | Designed by M. Kristen Bearse’. [248]: blank.  

General description: Binding 22.0 x 14.7 cm. Light blue paper boards with grey quarter-cloth spine stamped in silver lettering. White endpapers. The text block has a ‘deckled’ or uncut fore edge. Cover features a photograph of Julian Barnes by Paul Stuart. Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson. Bottom of back flap dates the dust jacket as ‘9/2008’.

Additional Printings are documented below:

Levels of Life (Center Point Publishing, 2014; Large Print)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Levels of Life. Thorndike, ME: Center Point Publishing, 2014. Pp. 127 + [1]. 22.1 x 14.4 cm. ISBN: 9781628990065. (Large Print edition).

Large print edition with dust jacket. Smooth board binding with imagery and text of jacket printed to covers, as shown. This example features a unique inscription from the author to his webmaster.

Der Zitronentisch | The Lemon Table (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2005; German)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Der Zitronentisch: Erzählungen | The Lemon Table: Stories. Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2005. Pp. 254 [255] + [1]. 21 x 13.2 cm. Translated by Gertraude Krueger. ISBN: 3462036165. (German).

Kjærlighet etc. | Love, etc (Aschehoug, 2002; Norwegian)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Kjærlighet etc. | Love, etc. Oslo: Aschehoug, 2002. Pp. 255 [256]. 21.2 x 13.5 cm. Translated by Knut Ofstad. ISBN: 820320550. (Norwegian).

Briefe aus London, 1990-1995 | Letters from London (Haffmans Verlag, 1995; German)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Briefe aus London, 1990-1995 | Letters from London. Zürich: Haffmans Verlag, 1995. Pp. 376 [377] + [7]. 22 x 14 cm. Translated by Gertraude Krueger and Robin Cackett. ISBN: 3251003003. (German).

Vor meiner Zeit (Haffsman Verlag, 1993; German)

Notes on this edition: Vor meiner Zeit. Zürich: Haffsman Verlag, 1993. Pp. 247 [248] + [8]. 18.5 x 11.2 cm. Translated by Michael Walter. ISBN: 3251300164. (German).

Formerly published in German under the title Als sie mich noch nicht kannte (Haffsman Verlag, 1988).

Talking It Over (Jonathan Cape, 1991)

Notes on this edition: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1991. £13.99. Print run: 24,000.

Descriptive Bibliography: 

Title Page: Talking It Over | Julian Barnes | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1991 | © Julian Barnes 1991 | 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 | ‘Walking After Midnight’ (Hecht/Block) | © Acuff-Rose Opryland Music Ltd | ‘Two Cigarettes in an Ashtray’ (Miller/Stevenson) | © Acuff-Rose Opryland Music Ltd | International copyright secured. All rights reserved. | Reproduced by permission of Warner Chappell Music Ltd | A CIP catalogue record for this book | is available from the British Library | ISBN 0-224-03157-0 | Phototypeset by Falcon Graphic Art Ltd | Printed in Great Britain by | Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Pp. [i-x] 1-273 [274-278]. [i-ii]: blank. [iii]: ‘Talking It Over’. [iv]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME | FLAUBERT’S PARROT | STARING AT THE SUN | A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 10½ CHAPTERS’. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. [ix]: ‘He lies like an eye-witness | Russian saying’. [x]: blank. 1-273: text. [274-278]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14.4 cm. Tan boards, gold blocked on spine. Sky blue endpapers. Tan dust jacket with color illustration on upper panel in purple, red, blue, green, and yellow. Lettered in black on upper and lower panel. Jacket illustration by Fraser Taylor. Author photograph by Jane Bown on back flap.

Metroland (St. Martin’s Press, 1980)

Notes on this edition: First American edition – New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980. $10.95.

Descriptive Bibliography: 

Title Page: METROLAND | Julian Barnes | St. Martin’s Press | New York

Copyright Page: © 1980 by Julian Barnes | All Rights Reserved | For information write St. Martin’s Press, Inc. | 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 | Printed in Great Britain | First published in the U.S. in 1980 | Library of Congress Catalog No. 79-3797 | ISBN 0-312-53169-9

Collation: 19.7 x 12.8 cm. Pp. [1-10] 11-72 [73-74] 75-130 [131-132] 133-176. [1]: ‘METROLAND’. [2]: blank. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Laurien’. [6]: blank. [7-8]: [contents]. [9]: ‘PART ONE | Metroland (1963) | A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu | Rimbaud’. [10]: blank. 11-72: text. [73]: ‘PART TWO | Paris (1968) | Moi qui ai connu Rimbaud, je sais | qu’il se foutait pas mal si A | était rouge ou vert. Il le voyait | comme ça, mais c’est tout. | Verlaine to Pierre Louÿs’. [74]: blank. 75-130: text. [131]: ‘PART THREE | Metroland II (1977) | Things and actions are what they are, and the | consequences of them will be what they will be; | why then should we desire to be deceived? | Bishop Butler’. [132]: blank. 133-176: text.

General description: Binding 20.5 x 13.5 cm. Blue-grey boards, silver blocked on spine. Grey end-papers. Black dust jacket lettered in silver (title) and white (author), with a photograph of the author by Jerry Bauer on lower panel. Jacket based on the first U.K. edition by Jonathan Cape. 

Variants: Some first editions carry a “B” stamped to the front end page, as pictured.

Review Copy Slips: Review copies for the first American edition of Metroland often included a review slip containing publication details, as pictured.

The Noise of Time (London Review Bookshop, 2016; Limited Edition Full Leather)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. The Noise of Time. London: London Review Bookshop, 2016. Limited Edition Full Leather.

Julian Barnes’s novel The Noise of Time was published in 2016, concurrently with the London Review Bookshop’s limited edition. The edition featured here is one of three hors de commerce copies signed by the author. Outside of this designation on the limitation page, the hors de commerce edition is identical to the full leather copy limited to 25 copies.

The book itself measures 20.6 x 13.7 cm. The slipcase measures 21.3 x 14.2 cm.

From the limitation page:

A special signed limited First Edition of
The Noise of Time
printed on Longan Book Wove 150gsm paper.
Numbers 1 to 75 have been quarter-bound
in Harmatan Yellow 30 Goatskin
with Atlantic Cloth sides and contain one
facsimile page from the author’s notebook.
25 copies (i to xxv), plus three hors de commerce,
have been fully bound in the same leather
and contain a portfolio of six facsimile pages
of early draft passages and notebook entries.

The edition featured here is numbered “Hors Commerce 2/3” and is signed by Julian Barnes to the limitation page. (Note: The image has been modified to remove the name of the recipient to whom Barnes inscribed the book.)

The facsimile page is contained in a paper folder with the following letterpressed to the front:

  1. Notebook entry of possible titles.
  2. Middle-of-the-night jotting from bedside notepad.
  3. Possible epigraphs, neither of them used.
  4. Draft of section when the opening episode returns as a memory in the second part of the novel.
  5. Early draft of opening of first part.
  6. First notes on novel, from notebook.

JULIAN BARNES (c) 2016

Levels of Life (London Review Bookshop, 2013; Limited Edition Full Leather)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Levels of Life. London: London Review Bookshop, 2013. Limited Edition Full Leather. The book itself measures 20.6 x 14.0 cm. The slipcase measures 21.3 x 14.4 cm.

In 2013, the London Review Bookshop issued a limited edition of Julian Barnes’s Levels of Life. One version was quarter-bound in leather (35 copies), another was full leather (15 copies), and a special hors série edition identical to the full leather version was produced for the author and select recipients (unstated on the limitation page, but limited to 3 copies, as noted in the image).

The limitation page of all editions is identical:

A special signed limited first edition of
Levels of Life
of which thirty-five copies have been
quarter-bound in Harmatan fine leather
numbered 1 to 35 and fifteen copies
full-bound in the same leather
numbered I to XV.

The bindings have been designed by
Andrew Stilwell and Patrick Roe and produced
by The Fine Book Bindery, Finedon, Northants.

This is number
[# in red followed by Julian Barnes’s signature in black ink]

Note: The limitation page of this example has been digitally altered to remove the personalized inscription from Julian Barnes to the edition’s owner.