Staring at the Sun (London Limited Editions, 1986)


Notes on this edition: The London Limited Edition of Staring at the Sun is the first limited edition produced of Julian Barnes’s works. Limited to 150 copies, the text is identical to the first U.K. edition published by Jonathan Cape, except for some preliminary pages, including the limitation signature page.

Descriptive Bibliography: First Limited edition – London: London Limited Editions, 1986. £25.00. 150 copies.

Title Page: As in the first edition hardback published by Jonathan Cape.

Copyright Page: As in the first edition hardback published by Jonathan Cape.

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Text identical to the first Jonathan Cape edition, except the front page [i-ii] has been cut and two new sheets tipped in. Sheet One (front): ‘JULIAN BARNES | STARING AT | THE SUN | [asterisk] | LONDON | LIMITED | EDITIONS’. (verso): blank. Sheet Two (front): ‘One of 150 numbered copies of the | First Edition of | Staring at the Sun | signed by the author and | specially bound. | No. [hand numbered] | [author signature]’. (verso): blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14 cm. Marble paper over boards, dark brown cloth quarter binding with glassine dustwrapper. White endpapers.

Before She Met Me (Jonathan Cape, 1991)


Notes on this edition: In 1991, Jonathan Cape reissued Julian Barnes’s novel Before She Met Me in hardback format. The first edition hardback was originally published in 1982, and because Cape did not make changes to the reissued book outside of small changes to the title page, copyright page, and dust jacket, the reissue may be classified technically as as a first edition, second printing.

Cross Channel (Jonathan Cape, 1996)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes’s first collection of short stories was published in 1996 with the title Cross Channel. The stories center on the relationship between England and France. The photos include a copyright page from the third printing.

Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1996. £13.99.

Title Page: CROSS CHANNEL | [decorative rule] | JULIAN BARNES | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1996 | 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 | © Julian Barnes 1996 | Julian Barnes has asserted his right | under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 | to be identified as the author of this work | First published in the United Kingdom in 1996 by | Jonathan Cape | Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA | ‘Interference’, ‘Experiment’ and ‘Evermore’ first appeared in | the New Yorker. ‘Gnossienne’ and ‘Dragons’ were | first published in Granta. | Random House Australia (Pty) Limited | 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney | New South Wales 2061, Australia | Random House New Zealand Limited | 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, | Auckland 10, New Zealand | Random House South Africa (Pty) Limited | PO Box 337, Bergvlei, 2012 South Africa | Random House UK Limited Reg. No. 954009 | A CIP catalogue record for this book | is available from the British Library | Papers used by Random House UK Limited are natural, | recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. | The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental | regulations of the country of origin. | ISBN 0-224-04301-3 | Phototypeset by Intype, London | Printed and bound in Great Britain by | Mackays of Chatham PLC

Collation: 20.2 x 13.6 cm. Pp. [i-viii, 1-2] 3-20 [21-22] 23-42 [43-44] 45-62 [63-64] 65-87 [88-90] 91-111 [112-114] 115-128 [129-130] 131-148 [149-150] 151-164 [165-166] 167-188 [189-190] 191-211 [212-216]. [i]: ‘CROSS CHANNEL | [decorative rule]’. [ii]: ‘BY THE SAME AUTHOR | [decorative rule] | 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’. [iii]: title page. [iv]: copyright page. [v]: ‘TO PAT’. [vi]: blank. [vii]: contents. [viii]: blank. [1]: ‘INTERFERENCE | [decorative rule]’. [2]: blank. 3-20: text. [21]: ‘JUNCTION | [decorative rule]’. [22]: blank. 23-42: text. [43]: ‘EXPERIMENT | [decorative rule]’. [44]: blank. 45-62: text. [63]: ‘MELON | [decorative rule]’. [64]: blank. 65-87: text. [88]: blank. [89]: ‘EVERMORE | [decorative rule]’. [90]: blank. 91-111: text. [112]: blank. [113]: ‘GNOSSIENNE | [decorative rule]’. [114]: blank. 115-128: text. [129]: ‘DRAGONS | [decorative rule]’. [130]: blank. 131-148: text. [149]: ‘BRAMBILLA | [decorative rule]’. [150]: blank. 151-164: text. [165]: ‘HERMITAGE | [decorative rule]’. [166]: blank. 167-188: text. [189]: ‘TUNNEL | [decorative rule]’. [190]: blank. 191-211: text. [212-216]: blank.

General description: Binding 21 x 14.5 cm. Black boards, red blocked on spine. Black endpapers. Dust jacket in red, blue, yellow, and green. Lettered in green and white. Jacket design by Tracey Winwood. Cream jacket flaps lettered in blue, the upper flap bordered in green and the lower flap bordered in yellow. Author photograph by Jillian Edelstein on back flap reproduced in green hues.

Fiddle City (Jonathan Cape, 1981)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes published Fiddle City under the pseudonym ‘Dan Kavanagh’ in 1981. Fiddle City is the second book in a series of four crime novels featuring a bisexual detective Nick Duffy. The other novels in the series include Duffy (1980), Putting the Boot In (1985), and Going to the Dogs (1987). The plot of Fiddle City involves a smuggling scheme at Heathrow Airport.

Descriptive Bibligraphy: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1981. £5.95. Print run: 2500.

Title Page: FIDDLE CITY | Dan Kavanagh | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1981 | Copyright © 1981 by Dan Kavanagh | Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1 | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Kavanagh, Dan | Fiddle City. | I. Title | 823’.914[F] PR6061.A895/ | ISBN 0-224-01977-5 | Photoset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd | Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk | Printed in Great Britain by | St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Collation: 19.7 x 12.8 cm. Pp. [1-6] 7-173 [174-176]. [1]: ‘FIDDLE CITY’. [2]: ‘by the same author | DUFFY’. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Craig and Li’. [6]: blank. 7-173: text. [174-176]: blank.

General description: Binding 20.5 x 13.5 cm. Blue boards, gold blocked on spine. Blue dust jacket lettered in white (title) and light blue (author), with a color image of Heathrow airport. No author photograph.

Before She Met Me (Jonathan Cape, 1982)


Notes on this edition: Jonathan Cape published Julian Barnes’s second literary novel in 1982. The first edition originally sold for £6.50, but later first edition copies were price clipped and increased (e.g. “J. Cape” price tag of £9.95).

Descriptive Bibliography:

First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1982. £6.50. Print run: 3000.

Title Page: BEFORE SHE MET ME | Julian Barnes | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1982 | Copyright © 1982 by Julian Barnes | Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1 | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Before she met me. | I. Title | 823’.914 [F] PR6052.A6657 | ISBN 0-224-01985-6 | Typeset by Gloucester Typesetting Services | Printed in Great Britain by | St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Collation: 19.8 x 12.7 cm. Pp. [i-iv] [1-10] 11-183 [184-188]. [i]: pasted to board. [ii-iv]: blank. [1]: ‘BEFORE SHE MET ME’. [2]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND’. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Pat’. [6]: blank. [7]: epigraph. [8]: blank [9]: [contents]. [10]: blank. 11-183: text. [184-187]: blank. [188]: pasted to board.

General description: Binding 20.5 x 13.8 cm. Black boards, gold blocked on spine. No endpapers (outer leaves pasted down). Black dust jacket lettered in red (title) and white (author), with a photograph of the author by Jerry Bauer on back flap.

The Library Book (Profile Books, 2012)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. “The Defence of the Book.” The Library Book. London: Profile Books, 2012. Pp. 180 + [2]. 18.5 x 11.5 cm.

As part of the austerity policies sweeping through England, library cuts and closures became all too common an occurrence. In 2012, The Library Book was published in support of The Reading Agency’s efforts to promote libraries and reading.

In addition to Julian Barnes, several other authors contributed pieces to the book, including Zadie Smith, Alan Bennettt, Stephen Fry, James Brown, Anita Anand, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Luch Mangan, Seth Godin, Val McDermid, Lionel Shriver, Bella Bathurst, China Miéville, Caitlin Moran, Tom Holland, Susan Hill, Michael Brooks, Bali Rai, Ann Cleeves, Julie Myerson, Nicky Wire, Kate Mosse, Karin Slaughter, and Miranda McKerney.

Barnes’s contribution “The Defence of the Book” (pp. 9-13) claims to be “From a proposed second edition of England, England“, and it outlines the collapse of libraries and reading in England after Sir Jack Pitman’s theme park has brought forth the economic decline of ‘Old England’. Barnes published his piece of short fiction in The Guardian during National Libraries Day in February 2012.

Staring at the Sun (Jonathan Cape, 1986)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes’s fourth literary novel Staring at the Sun examines the ordinary life of Jean Serjeant from her childhood in the 1920s through her adulthood to the 2020s.

Descriptive Bibliography: First edition: London: Jonathan Cape, 1986. £9.95. Print run: 8000.

Title Page: STARING | AT THE SUN | Julian Barnes | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY-TWO BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1986 | Copyright © 1986 by Julian Barnes | Jonathan Cape Ltd | 32 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EL | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Staring at the sun. | I. Title | 823’.914[F] PR6052.A6657 | ISBN 0 224 02414 0 | Typeset by Computape (Pickering) Ltd, North Yorkshire | Printed in Great Britain by | Ebenezer Baylis and Son Ltd | The Trinity Press, Worcester and London

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Pp. [i-viii, 1-4] 5-63 [64-66] 67-135 [136-138] 139-195 [196-200]. [i-ii]: blank. [iii]: ‘STARING AT THE SUN’. [iv]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME | FLAUBERT’S PARROT’. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. 1-2: text. [3]: ‘ONE | You ask me what life is? It is like asking what a carrot | is. A carrot is a carrot, and nothing more is known. | Chekhov to Olga Knipper, 20 April 1904’. [4]: blank. 5-63: text. [64]: blank. [65]: ‘TWO | Three wise men – are you serious? | graffito, c.1984’. [66]: blank. 67-135: text. [136]: blank. [137]: ‘THREE | Immortality is no learned question | Kierkegaard’. [138]: blank. 139-195: text. [196-200]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14 cm. Dark brown boards, gold blocked on spine. White endpapers. Brown dust jacket lettered in white on upper panel and orange and white on lower panel. Color illustration of the sun setting on an ocean by Cathy Wood. Author photograph by Allan Titmuss on back flap.

До того, как она встретила меня | Before She Met Me (ACT, 2005; Russian)


Notes about this edition: Julian Barnes.  До того, как она встретила меня (Do togo, kak ona vstretila menja) | Before She Met Me. Москва: АСТ: Транзиткнига, 2005. Pp. 252 [253] + [3]. 20.6 x 13.6 cm. Translated by И. Гуровой [I. Gurova]. ISBN: 5170289189. (Russian).

Flaubert’s Parrot (Jonathan Cape, 1984)


Notes on this Edition: Published by Jonathan Cape in 1984, Barnes’s third literary novel Flaubert’s Parrot was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. After being nominated for the Booker Prize, some copies of the first edition were issued with a red wrap-around band announcing the nomination.

Several errant dust jackets were produced that were slightly darker in tone. Some of these jackets were distributed with review copies, but the rest were pulped in favor of the corrected jacket. The darker toned jacket is featured below next to the corrected jacket to emphasize the tone differences.


Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1984. £8.50. Print run: 3000.

Title Page: JULIAN BARNES | [double rule line] | Flaubert’s | Parrot | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1984 | Copyright © by Julian Barnes 1984 | Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EL | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Flaubert’s Parrot. | I. Title | 823’.914[F]  PR6052.A6657 | ISBN 0-224-02222-9 | ‘Flaubert’s Parrot’ was first published | in the London Review of Books, | and ‘Emma Bovary’s Eyes’ first appeared, | in an edited form, in Granta. | Printed in Great Britain by | Ebenezer Baylis and Son Limited | The Trinity Press, Worcester and London

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Pp. [1-10] 11-190 [191-192]. [1]: ‘Flaubert’s | Parrot’. [2]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME’. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Pat’. [6]: blank. [7]: epigraph. [8]: ‘Note | I am grateful to James Fenton and the Salamander Press for per- | mission to reprint the lines from ‘A German Requiem’ on page 115. | The translations in this book are by Geoffrey Braithwaite; though he | would have been lost without the impeccable example of Francis | Steegmuller. | J.B.’. [9]: [contents]. [10]: blank. 11-190: text. [191-192]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14.5 cm. Green cloth boards, gold blocked on spine. White endpapers. White dust jacket lettered in black. Cover image ‘Félicité Sleeping with Parrot’ by David Hockney. Photograph of the author on back flap. A small number of copies were issued in a first-state dust jacket with a misprinted color illustration.

Metroland (Jonathan Cape, 1980)


Notes on this edition: This entry features the first edition hardback of Julian Barnes’s first published novel Metroland, which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1981. After winning the award, some copies of the first edition were issued with a red wrap-around band announcing the distinction.


Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1980. £4.95. Print run: 3000.

Title Page: METROLAND | Julian Barnes | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1980 | Copyright © by Julian Barnes 1980 | Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1 | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Metroland. | I. Title | 823’.9’1F PR6052.A66/ | ISBN 0-224-01762-4 | Printed in Great Britain by The Anchor Press Ltd | and bound by Wm Brendon & Son Ltd | both of Tiptree, Essex

Collation: 19.7 x 13 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.


Rogue Binding: The specimen below appears to be a rebound first edition of Julian Barnes’s Metroland. While the markings are minimal, evidence suggests the copy was previously part of a library and was at some point rebound. The poor quality of the tooling and application of the title to the spine suggests the binder used mass market materials or possibly a kit. The book is inscribed by Barnes, though whether the signature was acquired prior to the rebinding effort or not is unclear.