Ian Rankin & Inspector Rebus (25 page)

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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!’

‘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.’

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: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
.

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.

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.

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.

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 than 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).