Paeans for Porter | Numbered Edition (Bridgewater Press, 1999)


Notes on this edition: Paeans for Porter: A Celebration for Peter Porter on His Seventieth Birthday by Twenty of His Friends. Edited by Anthony Thwaite. London: Bridgewater Press, 1999. Pp. 77 + [1]. 22.2 x 14.3 cm.

Julian Barnes contributes a piece titled “Postcard to Peter Porter” (Pp. 16-19) for this collection in honor of the poet Peter Porter. Other contributors include: Martin Amis, Alan Brownjohn, Geoffrey Burgon, Wendy Cope, Allen Curnow, Ian Duhig, D. J. Enright, U. A. Fanthorpe, Barry Humphries, Clive James, David Malouf, Les Murray, Sean O’Brien, C K. Stead, George Szirtes, Ann Thwaite, Anthony Thwaite, William Trevor, and Kit Wright.

The limitation page indicates Bridgewater Press issued three editions of this book, as follows:

“This book is published in an edition of 113 copies on Archival Parchment paper. Seventy-five copies, numbered 1-75, are bound in Ratchford Atlantic cloth. Twenty-six copies signed by the contributors, lettered A-Z, are bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper boards. Twelve copies signed by the contributors, numbered I-XII, are bound in quarter Library Calf.”

Note: The title page and the top of Julian Barnes’s entry, as pictured, have been altered to remove personal inscriptions from the publisher and Barnes to the book’s owner.

Through the Window | Uncorrected Proof (Vintage International, 2012)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Through the Window: Seventeen Essays and a Short Story. New York: Vintage International, 2012. Pp. 243 + [1]. 20.2 x 13 cm.

Stated on top of cover: “THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED PROOF”. Includes a tentative publication date of October 30, 2012.

Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair 1996


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. “Introduction.” Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair, 1996. London: Antiquarian Booksellers Association, 1996. Pp. 128. 23.5 x 16.9 cm.

In 1996, the Grosvenor House in London hosted the Antiquarian Booksellers Association’s Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair, and Julian Barnes wrote the introduction to the fair catalog (pp. 5-7). His essay discusses book collecting and the idealistic notion of “completeness”.

Of the limited number of catalogs published for this occasion, one hundred were signed by Barnes at the end of his introduction. Each signed copy was numbered, as pictured.

Rien à craindre | Nothing to Be Frightened of (Mercure de France / Folio, 2009; French)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Rien à craindre | Nothing to Be Frightened of. [Paris]: Mercure de France, 2009. Pp. 395 [396] + [4]. 17.7 x 10.7 cm. Translated by Jean-Pierre Aoustin. ISBN: 9782070418824. (French).

Gallimard Folio series no. 5070.

Through the Window (Windsor Paragon, 2013; Large Print)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Through the Window: Seventeen Essays (and one short story). [Bath]: Windsor Paragon / AudioGO, 2013. Pp. 271 + [7]. 24 x 16 cm. ISBN: 9781471344701.

This large print edition features cover art found on the original first edition published by Vintage. Copyright page indicates AudioGO’s Windsor imprint published the large print edition in both hardback and paperback versions. Photos for this entry feature the hardback edition.

Something to Declare (Picador, 2002)


Notes on this edition: Something to Declare is Julian Barnes’s second collection of essays. The contents focus on topics related to France, its authors, artists, culture, and sport. Published as a Picador paperback, this edition represents the first U.K. edition. Also included in the photographs is a review slip that accompanied a review copy of the finished first edition of this collection.

Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Picador, 2002. £8.99. 

Title Page: Julian Barnes | Something to Declare | PICADOR

Copyright Page: [Picador device] | First published 2002 by Picador | an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd | Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR | Basingstroke and Oxford | Associated companies throughout the world | www.panmacmillan.com | ISBN 0 330 48916 X | Copyright © Julian Barnes 2002 | 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 acknowledgements on pages 303–4 constitute an extension of | this copyright page. | Every effort has been made by the publishers to contact copyright holders | of material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, | the publishers will be pleased to make restitution at the earliest opportunity. | All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be | reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or | transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, | photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written | permission of the publisher. 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 Intype London Ltd | Printed and bound in Great Britain by | Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, 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: 19.6 x 12.9 cm. Pp. [i-vi] vii-xviii [1-2] 3-16 [17-18] 19-33 [34-36] 37-47 [48-50] 51-62 [63-64] 65-76 [77-78] 79-97 [98-100] 101-108 [109-110] 111-144 [145-146] 147-170 [171-172] 173-192 [193-194] 195-208 [209-210] 211-214 [215-216] 217-234 [235-236] 237-249 [250-252] 253-267 [268-270] 271-287 [288-290] 291-318. [i]: ‘Something to Declare | JULIAN BARNES has published nine novels, 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, England, | England and Love, etc. He is the author of a book of short stories, | Cross Channel, and also a collection of journalism, Letters from | London 1990–1995. His work has been translated into more | than thirty languages. He is the only British writer to have won | both the Prix Médicis (for Flaubert’s Parrot) and the Prix Fémina | (for Talking It Over). In 1993 he was awarded the Shakespeare | Prize by the FVS Foundation of Hamburg. He lives in London.’. [ii]: ‘Also 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 | Letters from London 1990–1995 | Cross Channel | England, England | Love, etc’. [iii]: title page. [iv]: copyright page. [v]: ‘A.L.B. | 1909–1992 | K.M.B. | 1915–1997’. [vi]: blank. vii-viii: contents. ix-xviii: preface. [1]: ‘One | An Englishman Abroad’. [2]: ‘[photo] | A typical Ultimate Peasant’. 3-16: text. [17]: ‘Two | Spending Their Deaths | on Holiday’. [18]: ‘[photo] | Three beers, one ashtray, three singers: (l to r) | Jacques Brel, Leó Ferré, George Brassens’. 19-33: text. [34]: blank. [35]: ‘Three | The Promises of Their Ordination’. [36]: ‘[photo] | Jean Seberg kisses Jean-Paul Belmondo | to advertise A bout de souffle’. 37-47: text. [48]: blank. [49]: ‘Four | The Land Without Brussels Sprouts’. [50]: ‘[recipe for tomato soup] | A simple recipe’. 51-62: text. [63]: ‘Five | Tour de France 1907’. [64]: ‘[photo] | The Pont du Gard: ‘a little stupid’, | according to Henry James’. 65-76: text. [77]: ‘Six | Tour de France 2000’. [78]: ‘[photo] | ‘To the memory of Tom Simpson, Olympic medallist, | World champion, British sporting ambassador, | died 13th July (Tour de France 1967)’’. 79-97: text. [98]: blank. [99]: ‘Seven | The Pouncer’. [100]: ‘[photo] | George Simenon with all his needs | (the maid is off camera), 1930s’. 101-108: text. [109]: ‘Eight | French Letters’. [110]: ‘[photo] | Not an Ultimate Peasant but a | sophisticated poet: Stéphane Mallarmé’. 111-144: text. [145]: ‘Nine | Flaubert’s | Death-Masks’. [146]: ‘[photo] | Flaubert’s death mask’. 147-170: text. [171]: ‘Ten | Not Drowning But | Waving: The Case of | Louise Colet’. [172]: ‘[photo] | Louise Colet in riding costume, | by Courbet’. 173-192: text. [193]: ‘Eleven | Drinking Ink’. [194]: ‘[photo] | Alphonse Karr in his garden at Saint-Raphaël’. 195-208: text. [209]: ‘Twelve | Two Moles’. [210]: ‘[photo] | Turgenev at forty: the age of renunciation’. 211-214: text. [215]: ‘Thirteen | Consolation v. | Desolation’. [216]: ‘[photo] | George Sand, by Nadar’. 217-234: text. [235]: ‘Fourteen | Tail-Flaying’. [236]: ‘[photo] | A bad sight for Flaubert: Prussians in the | studio of a Rouen photographer, 1871’. 237-249: text. [250]: blank. [251]: ‘Fifteen | The Cost of | Conscientious | Literature’. [252]: ‘[photo] | Caroline Commanville, | Flaubert’s niece’. 253-267: text. [268]: blank. [269]: ‘Sixteen | Faithful Betrayal’. [270]: ‘[photo] | Isabelle Huppert as Emma Bovary, ‘a victim who | does not behave as a victim’’. 271-287: text. [288]: blank. [289]: ‘Seventeen | Justin: A Small | Major Character’. [290]: ‘[photo] | J. B. at the tomb of G. F., Rouen, 1983’. 291-302: text. 303-304: acknowledgements. 307-318: index.

General description: Binding 19.6 x 13 cm. Card wrappers with French flaps reproducing a painting by Howard Hodgkin in red, blue, and white. Lettered in white and blue on upper panel, black and blue on spine, black on lower spine, and black and red on flaps. Blue endpapers. Photograph of a Triumph Mayflower RTWI on back flap.


Below is the third printing of the same Picador edition: