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.