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 | Uncorrected Galley Proof (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996; Large Format)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Cross Channel. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. 27.9 x 21.5 cm.

Marked as an “Uncorrected Proof”, this galley proof of Julian Barnes’s Cross Channel was intended for in-house use and precedes the standard uncorrected proof normally issued to reviewers. The galley features a white paper cover with black lettering. Pages are reproduced two per sheet with each text line numbered, as pictured in the example images.

Note: Full inscription has been edited for privacy.

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.

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:

Before She Met Me (McGraw-Hill, 1986)


Notes about this Edition: Julian Barnes’s second literary novel was not published in the U.S. until 1986, making the McGraw-Hill paperback the first American edition. Following the critical success of Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot, McGraw-Hill published a series of paperbacks to promote his backlist. After releasing Flaubert’s Parrot in paperback (1985), McGraw-Hill issued Barnes’s second novel Before She Met Me (1986), followed by Metroland (1987).

Descriptive Bibliography: First American edition – New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1986. $4.95.

Title Page: Julian Barnes | Before She Met Me | McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY | New York St. Louis San Francisco Bogotá Guatamala | Hamburg Lisbon Madrid Mexico Montreal Panama | Paris San Juan São Paulo Tokyo

Copyright Page: Copyright © 1982 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as | permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may | be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a | data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the | publisher. | First McGraw-Hill Paperback edition, 1986 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A G R A G R 8 7 6 | ISBN 0-07-003747-7 | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA | Barnes, Julian. | Before she met me. | I. Title | PR6052.A6657B4 1986 823’.914 86-10627 | ISBN 0-07-003747-7 (pbk.)

Collation: 17.1 x 10.5 cm. Pp. [1-8] 9-174 [175-176]. [1]: ‘Before She Met Me | Julian Barnes was born in Leicester in 1946 and was educated | in London and Oxford. He was deputy literary editor of the | Sunday Times and is currently television critic of the Observer.’. [2]: blank. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: epigraph. [6]: ‘To Pat’. [7]: [contents]. [8]: blank. 9-174: text. [175]: blank. [176]: ‘Catalog | If you are interested in a list of fine Paperback | books, covering a wide range of subjects | and interests, send your name and address, | requesting your free catalog, to: | McGraw-Hill Paperbacks | 1221 Avenue of Americas | New York, N.Y. 10020’.

General description: Binding 17.1 x 10.5 cm. Paperbound in black. Lettered in white (title) and lavendar (author). No author photograph. No hardback edition was published in the U.S., which makes this paperback release the first true American edition.

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.

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.

Flaubert’s Parrot | Talking It Over (QPD, 2000)


Notes about this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubert’s Parrot Talking It Over. London: Quality Paperbacks Direct, 2000. Pp. 498. 19.7 x 12.6 cm.

Quality Paperbacks Direct issued this “omnibus” edition of Julian Barnes’s novels Flaubert’s Parrot and Talking It Over in 2000, the same year Jonathan Cape released Love, etc, Barnes’s sequel to Talking It Over. The cover replicates artwork for Talking It Over, as the book likely sought to capitalize on the sequel’s release.

Barnes’s paperback rights were managed by Picador at the time of publication, as QPD notes on the copyright page. The book’s table of contents lists Flaubert’s Parrot as beginning on page ‘vii’ and Talking It Over on page 231.

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).

Metroland (McGraw-Hill, 1987)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Metroland. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987. Pp. 176. 17 x 10.2 cm ISBN: 0070037469.

Following the critical success of Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot, McGraw-Hill published a series of paperbacks to promote his backlist. After releasing Flaubert’s Parrot in paperback (1985), McGraw-Hill issued Barnes’s second novel Before She Met Me (1986), followed by Metroland (1987).

Pictured with the first edition paperback is a “library bound” (or “permabound”) copy discovered in a bookshop in St. Louis, Missouri. Libraries frequently used such services to bind together volumes of journals or magazines for long-term storage or to turn their paperback editions into longer-lasting hardbacks. This copy has no library markings, however, which is unusual, as it suggests a private collector paid for the binding or that it was a sample copy direct from the binder.