by Craig Cabell
‘Nowadays anyone can be a dealer, what with AbeBooks and Ebay. Anyone can do it.’
But the seller doesn’t always have the knowledge to know what they have; they may think they do.
‘I know the early books sell for a lot of money. I remember seeing a copy of The Flood in an auction. It had a very high price on it and it was only the paperback version. There were 800 copies printed of the paperback, compared to only three or four hundred hardbacks, so I was astonished… I’ve got some unopened copies in their original mailing box.
‘Orion called for my early works to be re-issued. First I allowed Watchman because I took a look through it and thought, Yes, this holds up.’
The Flood also got re-issued, the proof having a much shorter Introduction than the final hardback, I notice. In January 2005 you were quite determined that the publisher wouldn’t get their hands on that book, not until after the final Rebus novel, at least. What changed your mind?
‘My publisher was keen to publish and got me drunk one night at dinner. That’s probably why I said I’d think about it. I didn’t like that fans/completists couldn’t get access to the book, and that dealers were profiting wildly from a few fans with deep pockets. I also thought it might complement Rebus’s Scotland, sections of which refer to my childhood in Cardenden. If I’m ever hard up, expect me to change my mind on Westwind, too… Also I agreed to Watchman and The Flood because of the readers, not the collectors. There were people out there who just wanted to read the books and had to pay silly money to get at the early ones. I told them they’re not as good, but they told me that they didn’t care: I had written them and they wanted to read them, so that’s where it really made more sense to me to release them.’
Why don’t you like Westwind?
‘It was my attempt at a big conspiracy-theory story, set partly in the USA (a country I had never visited at that time) and with lots of humour. Unfortunately, my editor of the time didn’t like it, and had me make masses of changes – taking out the humour and the US setting, for example – by the end of which I felt the book had ceased to be mine. There’s a cheesy photo of me on the back, looking about 16, taken when I worked on a London hi-fi magazine. I don’t think I could bear to read the novel now.
‘That’s the problem with collecting: it’s not about quality, it’s about quantity. A book could be a masterpiece and sell millions and be worth 20p on the collector’s market but a load of rubbish that hardly sells and there’s about five copies in existence will sell for hundreds!’
You seem to be aware of how collectable your books are?
‘Yes, the early books are worth a fortune nowadays. Not so much the later books because the print-runs are high, but the proof copies still reach big prices. I was talking to a dealer once at a book signing in Edinburgh, and he had bought 40 copies of Resurrection Men, which he wanted me to sign. I asked him what he was doing with them, and he told me that he had punters for them all over the world.’
Did it bother you that he was going to sell them on for a profit once you had signed them?
‘No, why should it? He was a customer and he bought a shopping trolley full of my books. So what? It keeps him in a living!’
You seem to sympathise with the collecting market?
‘I’m a collector myself. I’ve collected a lot of first edition hardbacks signed by the writers. And if you ask me why I did it, I couldn’t tell you. I have no idea. What difference does it make if you have a signature in a book of somebody you’ve never met?’
It depends if you collect them or not!
‘Exactly! I’ve got some early Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Anthony Burgess, George MacBeth. Some of those writers are dead now. And I tell you something else: when I sign a book, I never dedicate it, because it’s always worth more undedicated on the collector’s market. People don’t want dedicated copies [Note: Rankin has changed his position on this for his later books, Set in Darkness onwards, especially as people request personal dedications at book signing sessions.]
Are you only interested in collecting signed copies?
‘No, they don’t have to be signed copies. I love James Ellroy and Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly. It tends to be male writers I like. I don’t know why – it must be a bloke-ish thing. I even like Anthony Powell, who wrote a 12-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time. The interesting thing for me about that book was the structure. After five years and five books, he would bring in a character you vaguely remember, and the character would meet the narrator on the street and say: “Do you remember when we used to work together?” And it’s that idea of people coming back into your life that fascinated me, because that is exactly what happens. Powell said that life was like a dance and that is where the title of the book came from.’
Is it because of Powell that you write series books?
‘No, I didn’t intend Rebus to be a series. It just kind of happened. When you are writing a series, there will be characters you created five books ago who become of use to you again, and then you’ve got to remember all the things important to that character. Are they afraid of flying? Do they like fish and chips? You have to keep a whole series of lives in your head.’
Have you picked up any bargains?
‘I don’t think I have. I remember picking up a Muriel Spark novel once thinking that it was a bargain. It was ten pounds. I was a student then, so that was a lot of money. It was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a famous book. And I thought, Ten pounds for a first edition hardback, great! But I found out that it was a reprint and almost worthless. It’s not even worth the ten pounds I paid for it ten to 15 years ago!
‘I’ve never been good at finding a bargain, or anything like that. If I thought, Let’s go and play with the stock market, I’d end up losing my shirt!’
In crime fiction the works of Agatha Christie and even the early works of Dick Francis are very collectable nowadays. Are they for you?
‘No, not really. I don’t like horse riding so I don’t read Dick Francis. My elder sister read a lot of Agatha Christie, but I thought about the wee little English village and this little wifey coming along and solving murders and thought, ‘This is outrageous!’ If you saw her coming along the garden path you’d bolt the door, because if she crossed the threshold you’d be dead by Chapter Three, so that didn’t make any sense to me.’
THE INSPECTOR REBUS SERIES – 1ST UK EDITIONS
Knots and Crosses (The Bodley Head, 1987), with white endpapers and £10.95 on dustwrapper. Hide and Seek (Barrie & Jenkins, 1991), with white endpapers and £12.99 on dustwrapper.
Wolfman (Century, 1992), with white endpapers and £14.99 on dustwrapper. (Note: this title was later reprinted as Tooth and Nail, initially for the US market.)
Strip Jack (Orion, 1992), with white endpapers and £13.99 on dustwrapper. Note: some dustwrappers for this title do not have a price on them (limitation unknown). However, priced wrappers are not as scarce as those for Let It Bleed.
The Black Book (Orion, 1993), with white endpapers and £14.99 on dustwrapper.
Mortal Causes (Orion, 1994), with white endpapers and £15.99 on dustwrapper.
Let It Bleed (Orion, 1995), with white endpapers and £15.99 on dustwrapper. Note: most dustwrappers for this title do not have prices on them (limitation unknown). During research for this book the only priced jacket to be found was through Ian Rankin himself.
Let It Bleed (Chivers Press, 2001), large print edition with different dustwrapper to first UK hardback edition.
Black and Blue (Orion, 1987), with white endpapers and £16.99 on dustwrapper. Note: only 600 copies of the hardback were printed as the emphasis was put on the trade paperback sales; half of the first hardback print run had a price on inner flap of dustwrapper and is much more desirable than unpriced (and ostensibly price-clipped) dustwrapper. This was verified to the author by Orion in 2001.
The Hanging Garden (Orion, 1988), with white endpapers and £16.99 on dustwrapper.
Death Is Not The End
(Orion, 1998),‘an Inspector Rebus novella – part of the Criminal Records series of novellas, edited by Otto Penzler’, white endpapers with £5.99 on dustwrapper. Note: author’s afterword mentions next novel Dead Souls.
Dead Souls (Orion, 1999), with white endpapers and £9.99 on dustwrapper.
Set in Darkness (Orion, 2000), with white endpapers and £16.99 on dustwrapper.
The Falls (Orion, 2001), with white endpapers and £16.99 on dustwrapper.
Resurrection Men (Orion, 2002), with black endpapers and £17.99 on dustwrapper.
A Question of Blood (Orion, 2003), with black endpapers and £17.99 on dustwrapper, early issues with Orion press release with three-tone blue sidebar down left hand side and multi-coloured invitation to book launch.
Fleshmarket Close (Orion, 2004), green endpapers, £17.99 on dustwrapper, early issues with Orion press release with three-tone blue sidebar down left hand side. Note: a signed limited edition was issued in pictorial slipcase; the most collectable issues are still shrink-wrapped and therefore mint/untouched.
The Naming of the Dead (Orion, 2006), white endpapers, £17.99 on dustwrapper, full number string including ‘1’ on copyright page, early issues with double-sided Orion press release with colour motif header, publicity tour information (normally stapled to press release) and ‘Ian Rankin at your fingertips’ double-sided promotional card.
Exit Music (Orion, 2007), red endpapers, £18.99 on wrapper, full number string including ‘1’ on copyright page, early issues with colour double-sided Orion press release (there was an edition exclusive to Waterstones, signed by Rankin with a wrap-around band ‘Meet Ian Rankin – When you win a fabulous weekend for two at The Witchery Hotel Edinburgh’). Note: I have deliberately identified the most collectable version of the last three Rebus titles – the review copies.
Exit Music (Thorndike Core, 2009), large print edition, hardback with different dustwrapper to standard UK first edition.
A note regarding publicity notes: copies of books with an original copy of a publisher’s publicity notes are referred to as ‘Review Copies’ and are – often rightly – considered to be early issues. It is an easy bet that all Ian Rankin titles published by Orion came with publicity notes and probably those published by Century and Headline too – the latter as Jack Harvey novels. However, the earlier books are harder to make judgement on and, because no publicity notes have been seen during the compilation of this guide for the early titles, they are not mentioned; but that doesn’t mean they do not exist. All review copies seen are mentioned in this guide.
REBUS NOVEL ANTHOLOGIES
Rebus:The Early Years (Orion, 1999), includes Knots and Crosses, Hide and Seek, Tooth and Nail.
Rebus: The St Leonard’s Years (Orion, 2001), includes Strip Jack, The Black Book, Mortal Causes
Rebus:The Lost Years (Orion, 2003), includes Let It Bleed, Black and Blue, The Hanging Garden
Capital Crimes (Orion, 2004), includes Dead Souls, Set in Darkness, The Falls.
THE INSPECTOR REBUS SERIES – SHORT STORY COLLECTION
A Good Hanging and other stories (Century, 1992) with white endpapers and £14.99 on dustwrapper.
Beggars Banquet (Orion, 2002), with purple endpapers and £16.99 on dustwrapper. Early issues with Orion press release with three-tone blue sidebar to left hand side. Note: the mass market paperback also included the Rebus novella Death Is Not The End and is considered a ‘1st thus’ i.e. a first issue of that particular version of the book and therefore collectable in unread condition.
The Complete Short Stories (Orion, 2005), includes previously unreleased Rebus story Atonement, with white endpapers and £17.99 on dustwrapper. Note: Although the book is called The Complete Short Stories there are some notable omissions, all of which can be found listed in their original publication later in this bibliography.
THE INSPECTOR REBUS SERIES – NON-FICTION
Rebus’s Scotland: A Personal Journey (Orion, 2005), photographed by Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie (100 copies were issued by The Reader’s Digest with a numbered 6x8 limited edition print; very few can be found signed).
Rebus’s Scotland: A Personal Journey (Orion, 2006), first paperback edition, standard p/back size with b/w photo sections throughout (completely different cover, format and presentation to first UK hardback edition), £7.99 on back cover.
THE INSPECTOR REBUS SERIES – PROOF COPIES
Hide and Seek (Barrie & Jenkins, 1991), uncorrected proof p/back, numbered of 400 copies, slightly different colour card cover to first hardback dustwrapper.
Wolfman (Century, 1992), uncorrected proof p/back.
Strip Jack (Orion, 1992), uncorrected proof p/back, numbered of 500 copies, different pictorial wrapper to first hardback edition. Note: although this was not promoted as a signed and numbered limited edition, many copies were flat-signed by Rankin under the limitation numbers and are therefore the most desirable copies.
Strip Jack (Orion, 1993), proof for p/back issue. Brown and white card covers with Orion logo on front.
A Good Hanging (Century, 1992), uncorrected proof p/back of short-story anthology.
The Black Book (Orion, 1993), uncorrected proof p/back.
Mortal Causes (Orion, 1994), uncorrected proof p/back.
Let It Bleed (Orion, 1995), uncorrected proof p/back.
Black and Blue (Orion, 1997), uncorrected proof p/back, pictorial front cover (green fingerprint with green titles on white wrapper). Note: authenticates hardback priced wrapper of £16.99 on back cover with trade paperback price also listed as £9.99.
The Hanging Garden (Orion, 1998), uncorrected proof p/back, black and white photo of Rankin on white front cover.
The Hanging Garden (Orion, 1999), standard paperback proof ‘Advanced Reading copy’, with blue words on white card cover.
Dead Souls (Orion, 1999), uncorrected proof p/back, black and white photo of Rankin on white front cover.
Dead Souls (Orion, 1999), standard paperback proof ‘Special Book Proof’ for first p/back edition, lime green cover with titles in black. Note: this special proof was released as additional promotion to first Rebus TV series, starring John Hannah.
Set in Darkness (Orion, 2000), uncorrected proof p/back, with same image as standard first UK edition hardback on front cover with white spine and back cover.
The Falls (Orion, 2001), uncorrected proof p/back, with black covers and boxed photo identical to first UK edition hardback to front cover.
Resurrection Men (Orion, 2002), uncorrected proof p/back, with black and white photo of Rankin to front cover, some copies with additional proof wrapper (clearly identified as such) similar to first UK hardback edition, save for the proof markings.
Beggars Banquet (Orion, 2002), uncorrected proof p/back, with same photo to front cover as first UK hardback edition (short story collection).
A Question of Blood (Orion, 2003), uncorrected proof p/back, with same photo to front cover as first UK hardback edition.
Fleshmarket Close (Orion, 2004), uncorrected proof p/back, with map of Fleshmarket Close to front cover.
Fleshmarket Close (Orion, 2004), uncorrected proof p/back, with same photo to front cover as first UK hardback edition.
Naming of the Dead (Orion, 2006), uncorrected proof p/back, numbered of 250 copies only and dated ‘18.10.06’ in red on black card cover, depicting a segment of a crossword completed, which reads ‘Rankin, Rebus, Is, Back’.
Naming of the Dead (Orion, 2006), standard proof p/back copy in same pictorial wrap as first hardback edition.
Naming of the Dead (Orion, 2007), proof copy of the paperback edition, black cover with ‘Rebus is Back’ in bold blue capital letters.
INSPECTOR REBUS TRADE PAPERBACKS
Trade paperbacks were introduced into the Inspector Rebus series from Black and Blue. The idea was to provide an under-£10 version of the new-release hardback novel but not a mass-market paperback. All trade paperbacks have the same dimensions as the standard hardback release, i.e. bigger th
an normal paperbacks, and are released simultaneously with hardback releases. With the release of Black and Blue the trade paperback was pushed hard – as it was the first – which meant only 600 copies of the first edition hardback were released, half the run going to libraries/book clubs, thus having no price on the inner flap of dustwrapper. Copies with priced dustwrappers are worth top prices today.
Strip Jack (Orion, 1992).
Black and Blue (Orion, 1987).
The Hanging Garden (Orion, 1988).
Dead Souls (Orion, 1999).
Set in Darkness (Orion, 2000).
The Falls (Orion, 2001).
Resurrection Men (Orion, 2002).
A Question of Blood (Orion, 2003).
Fleshmarket Close (Orion, 2004).
The Naming of the Dead (Orion, 2006).
Exit Music (Orion, 2007).
Note regarding book club issues: as a rule book club issues of Rankin’s books are not of any value. However BCA released a set of books commonly known as ‘pocket editions’ by fans, which are numbered on the back of the dustwrapper by their place in the series. The set is of some note as they each include a special Introduction by the author, explaining his memories of writing the books, which many people find interesting. A complete set of the books up to at least Fleshmarket Close or The Naming of the Dead is worth approximately £100. Uncommon for a BCA set of books (Rankin’s three Jack Harvey novels are unnumbered extras in the series).
