The "Wicker Man" NOVEL

**Brandon Jones** · 6th June 2002, 03:21 AM

Hey guys,

Is there anywhere that the "Wicker Man" novel is still in print? I had no idea it was originally a novel before I read Alfonso's post about it. I'd love to have the book. Any suggestions?

**Charles Prepolec** · 6th June 2002, 03:54 AM

The novelization of The Wicker Man is currently available through Amazon UK. Click here to go directly to the listing.

Just a small point, it was not originally a novel. However, a novel was released based on the script/screenplay. Hence my use of the term 'novelization' above. A good read it is too, as it adds a little shading and background to the characters. Howie in particular comes off in a far more sympathetic light. Something that just can't be achieved on film!

Cheers!

**Alfonso Casal** · 6th June 2002, 04:01 AM

Well, it wasn't originally a novel. Hardy and Schaffer novelized their own film. It's a great read for Wicker-fans as one gets a richer view of the life of Summerisle. Also, the character of Sgt. Howie is considerably more fleshed out -- for example, he's a young man in his 20s in the novel -- and less priggish and more sympathetic.

My copy is a 1978 hardcover. Issued, I would imagine, to coincide with the US re-release of the film. I picked it up off a Barnes and Noble used book search, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find. Track it down. It's well worth the effort.

**Alfonso Casal** · 6th June 2002, 04:04 AM

Oops! Looks like Charles' posting and mine got 'crossed' in cyberspace. So. . . Yeah. . . What HE said. :)

**Charles Prepolec** · 6th June 2002, 04:22 AM

LOL. Crossed posts? My good fellow, I'm just faster when it comes to books! :D

Anyway, Alfonso brings up a point that had slipped my mind. If you are looking for an earlier edition (at least first US or so...) I can recommend ABE for a decent search. Just click here and enter "Wicker Man" into the title field. Plenty of copies should be readily available. Unhappily, I have no idea about who produced the true first edition, which is to say I have no idea if a UK edition preceeded the American edition published by Crown in 1978, so you are on your own in that regard. Good hunting and happy reading!

Cheers!

**Alfonso Casal** · 7th June 2002, 01:38 AM

Charles,

A question for thee, Oh Master of the Books: Do you have any advice on how I can tell if my copy of The Wicker Man novel is a first edition? It was published by Crown in 1978. On the back of the first page, there's the usual information about publication year, publisher's address, LOC catalogue number, etc., but no indication as to first edition (or first printing). No printing sequence numbers, either.

I purchased it out of love for the subject -- just to read. But, if it turns out to be a minor collectible, all the better.

So, any hints, oh wizard, oh wise one?

**Charles Prepolec** · 7th June 2002, 03:51 AM

Ah, at last, something in my field!

According to Crown's statement for 1981 regarding their method of identifying firsts, Crown Publishing in 1978 used absolutely no indicator of 1st edition on a first printing. However, if it was anything but a first printing, the reprint history is listed.

This practice was abandoned by Crown in 1980-1 as they switched to the more user friendly method of listing a string of numbers in descending order on the copyright page, with the lowest visible number corresponding to the particular printing. That is to say that you'd now see something like this:

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

As the numeral 'one' is present, the printing would be a first printing. However, if the numbers looked like this:

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

you'd be holding a 3rd printing. Printing and edition are used interchangeably by many folks, but this is not always accurate. It is possible to have a 1st edition third printing of a book as many publishers consider a new 'edition' to have changes to it, whereas a 'printing' means it was likely run from the same plates, but at a later date, with no changes except to the printing history page. To confuse matters more, there is no standard used by all publishing houses across the board to identify their editions or printings. One uses the numeric device mentioned above while another may use an alpha listing along the same lines, and yet another may actually use the words 'First Edition' as a designation. Others may state 'First Edition' but then also have the numeric string, where the numbers are the actual indicators regardless of the words 'First Edition'. So, quite frankly, unless you know the methods used by a particular publishing house in a particular period you really cannot tell a first from a later printing. Oh, and did I mention that any given publishing house has likely changed their methodology over the years, moving from one designation to another? Fun huh? Fortunately I keep abreast of the various identifiers used by most of the mainstream publishers as well as many of the minor or small press publishers.

Anyway, my point about being unsure of the exact true first for The Wicker Man has nothing to do with editions, as I doubt that the Crown edition ever went beyond a single printing. My problem stems from the question of whether or not a British edition was published prior to the American hardcover, in paperback or hardcover format. Being a British film and book, I would have thought a UK paperback would've been out before the American book, but with The Wicker Man's bizarre history, it is really hard to tell without doing a bit of research, which I have neither the time nor the inclination to undertake.

Without actually inspecting your book, I'd suspect that you have at least the first American edition (keeping in mind that this may be a true first if no UK edition precedes it). Now, I wonder if there was ever a bookclub edition...as that is an entirely different kettle of fish. Bookclub editions can look exactly the same as a proper book, although they are generally made using cheaper paper and as a result will be thinner or smaller than the legitimate book. Many bookclubs also tend to have ragged cut pages, but then again so do some proper book releases, so this alone is certainly an unreliable method of determining the state. Most bookclub editions either state 'Book Club' inside the front cover (often clipped out by unscrupulous dealers) or will carry a blind stamp of the club logo or a symbol on the bottom rear near the spine. On the other hand, I've seen book club books that use the exact same plates as the true first and maintain a pretty good level of quality, so identification can be very difficult.

I despise book club editions as they are a nuisance. I was once called to the local University to value a recent donation of books to their library. 17 bloody great boxes of books, and every one of them a bookclub edition. I was not terribly pleased to have wasted an afternoon digging through entirely worthless books. :(

Hope that was helpful.

Cheers!

**Alfonso Casal** · 7th June 2002, 05:35 AM

Wow! It would appear that I do have a first edition (if, as you said, no UK edition preceded it.) Do you have any pointers as to where I could go to find out, barring tracking down Robin Hardy, if there ever was a UK edition?

Well now. . . I think I need to get some signatures on this thing! I think I'll make that a long-term project.

Thanks, Charles, you've made my day.

**Charles Prepolec** · 7th June 2002, 03:56 PM

Duh! Silly of me not to check previously, but in Allan Brown's Inside the Wicker Man he notes:

"A novel entitled The Wicker Man was published in hardback in 1978 by Crown in the USA and Hamlyn in the United Kingdom."

So, this raises the question of which came first in 1978? At the moment I've no idea. In any event, as previously noted, the Crown hardcover of 1978 is at least the first US printing. I tend to think that the UK edition likely precedes it as UK based authors are usually (and this is a very uneven and exception riddled rule of thumb) published first in their home country, with separate rights being issued for foreign publishing later, either by a subsidiary of the UK publisher or by an entirely different entity. Typically British author's books tend to be released in the US anywhere from 3 to 9 months after the UK edition (again this is not always true but a fairly typical occurence) so some further research is in order. Where exactly, I've no idea, although if you are really keen, I'd suggest contacting some hardcore Wicker fans or specialty book dealers as they are more likely to have such specialized info to hand.

If I find anything out I'll certainly post it here.

Cheers!