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.

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.

Trioloog ; Liefde, enz. | Talking It Over ; Love, etc. | Dual Edition (Uitgeverij Atlas Contact, 2016; Dutch)


Notes on this edition: Trioloog ; Liefde, enz. | Talking It Over ; Love, etc. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Atlas Contact, 2016. Trioloog translated by Bartho Kriek; Liefde, enz. translated by Marijke Versluys. Pp. 283 [284]; Pp. 249 [250]. 21.5 x 14.1 cm. ISBN: 9789025448752. (Dutch).

Special dual edition of Trioloog and Liefde, enz. The book flips upside down to read the other text, as shown in the cover image photo. A single, blank page separates the two texts.

Visit the Atlas website: http://www.atlascontact.nl/auteur/julian-barnes/

Talking It Over (Vintage International, 1992; Canadian Edition)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Talking It Over. Toronto: Vintage Books, 1992. Pp. 275 + [1]. 20.2 x 13.1 cm. ISBN: 0394222989.

Stated as the “First Vintage Books Edition” to the copyright page. This paperback edition of Julian Barnes’s novel Talking It Over is the first Canadian paperback edition. While appearing nearly identical to the first Vintage International edition published in the U.S., the two editions feature different title pages, copyright pages, and there are subtle differences to the dust covers, including price and promotional blurbs. A later printing copyright page is also pictured above.


The example below is priced at $17.95. It features blurbs from Canadian publications to the back cover. The copyright page states this is a “First Vintage Books Edition” and has a printing number line that reads “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2”, but the back of the book  includes advertisements for England, England (1998) and — “NEW FROM RANDOM HOUSE CANADA” — Love, etc (2000), thus suggesting it is a later reprint. ISBN: 9780394222981.

Talking It Over (Vintage International, 1992; U.S. Edition)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Talking It Over. New York: Vintage International, 1992. Pp. 275 + [1]. 20.2 x 13.1 cm. ISBN: 9780679736875.

The first U.S. paperback edition of Julian Barnes’s novel Talking It Over. A very similar edition was published by Vintage Books as the first Canadian paperback edition. While appearing nearly identical, the two editions feature different title pages, copyright pages, and there are subtle differences to the dust covers, including price and promotional blurbs.

This example is priced at $11.00. It features blurbs from U.S. publications to the back cover.

Love, etc. | Talking It Over (Éditions Denoël / Le Grand Livre du Mois, 1992; French | Book of the Month)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Love, etc. | Talking It Over. Paris: Éditions Denoël / Le Grand Livre du Mois, 1992. Pp. 314 + [2]. 21.7 x 14.6 cm. Translated by Raymond Las Vergnas. ISBN: 9782286040642. (French).

French translation of Julian Barnes’s Talking It Over under the title Love, etc. This “Book of the Month” selection in bound in red. Printed in October 1992.

Prerekanja | Talking It Over (Mladinska knjiga, 1997; Slovenian)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Prerekanja | Talking It Over. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1997. Pp. 232 + [4]. 20.5 x 14.8 cm. Translated by Valerija Cokan. ISBN: 8611149572. (Slovenian).

Hablando del asunto | Talking It Over (Compactos Anagrama, 2003; Spanish)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Hablando del asunto | Talking It Over. Barcelona: Compactos Anagrama, 2003. Pp. 237 + [3]. 20.5 x 13.4 cm. Translated by Maribel de Juan. (Spanish).

This is the second printing of the Compactos Anagrama paperback edition. The first printing of the Compactos edition was in 1999, and the third printing was in 2006.

Dumáljuk meg rendesen | Talking It Over (Ulpius-ház, 2000; Hungarian)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Dumáljuk meg rendesen | Talking It Over. Budapest: Ulpius-ház, 2000. Pp. 221 + [7]. 19.7 x 12.7 cm. Translated by Szentgyörgyi József. ISBN: 963860798x. (Hungarian).

מדברים על זה | Talking It Over (Zmora-Bitan, 1994; Hebrew)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. מדברים על זה (Medabrim ‘al zeh) | Talking It Over. Tel-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan, 1994. Pp. 218. 21 x 13.3 cm. Translated by Ya’ir Burla. (Hebrew).