A9

Kazuo Ishiguro – The Buried Giant

a. UK Edition

  1. First Edition

Faber & Faber. Published 3rd March 2015. Hardback. Cerulean blue endpapers, half-title, title, [ii], 343 pages numbered 3-345. Pages 234mm x 147mm. Grey paper covered boards; down spine in gilt lettering: ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO  THE BURIED GIANT  ff(logo)’. ISBN 978-0-571-31503-1.

Dustjacket. 554mm x 240mm. Front: Cerulean blue with a graphic of a white tree with gold leaves on a hilltop; above in gilt: ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO’ and in smaller, blue lettering ‘Author of the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go’. Below in white ‘THE BURIED GIANT’ and the ff logo. Price on front flap £20.00.

    1a. First Edition – variant

Faber & Faber. Published 3rd March 2015. Hardback.

All details are exactly the same as the first edition except that the page edges are sprayed black. It is believed that these were only distributed to some Waterstones stores in the UK. Of these copies a very few were signed pre-publication by Kazuo Ishiguro and dated in his hand ‘March 2nd 2015’.

2. Proof

Faber & Faber. Paperback. Half title, title, [ii], 343 pages numbered 3-345. Pages 235mm x 146mm. Front: A very dark blue with a graphic of a white tree with gold leaves on a hilltop; above in white: ‘THERE’S A | JOURNEY WE | MUST | GO ON AND | NO MORE | DELAY’. Down the spine in white: ‘ff(logo)’, in gilt ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO’ and in white ‘THE BURIED GIANT’.

3. Signed Slipcased Limited Edition

Faber & Faber. Published 2009. Hardback. The endpapers feature a water colour aerial view of mountains and a lake, limitation page, half-title, title, [ii], 343 pages numbered 3-345. Pages 234mm x 153mm. Cordovan boards with a 100mm diameter hole cut to show part of the endpapers; below in gilt ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO  THE BURIED GIANT’. ISBN 978-0-571-32413-2.  Signed by Ishiguro to the limitation page and numbered by hand. 200 copies, numbered 1-200, were made available for sale and 5 copies, numbered i-v were reserved for the author. Accompanied by a hardback portfolio with matching cordovan boards and inside two facsimile pages of the original manuscript, both signed by Ishiguro. There is no dustjacket, as issued.

Slipcase. 251mm x 169mm. Aqua cloth covered slipcase with a gilt version of the dustjacket tree on one side.

Note: One binder’s copy has been recorded (MW collection). This is unnumbered but signed by Ishiguro. It is in a slipcase with a facsimile portfolio but no facsimiles are present.

4. Collectors’ Edition

Faber & Faber. Published 2016. Hardback. The endpapers feature a design of leaves in shades of blue and gold, [i], title, [ii], 343 pages numbered 3-345. Pages 196mm x 124mm. Quarter bound in gold cloth with blue paper covered boards featuring an enlarged version of the tree on the first edition dustjacket in light blue with gilt leaves. Down the spine in gilt, ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO  THE BURIED GIANT  ff (logo)’. A gold fabric ribbon bookmark is bound in. Originally wrapped in a black paper band with a gold ‘Faber Members’ sticker. There is no dustjacket, as issued.

Note: The copy in the MW collection is signed by Ishiguro and dated 17th February 2016.

5. The Folio Society Edition

The Folio Society. Published 2023. Hardback. Fern green endpapers with a graphic of gold contour lines, half-title, [i], title, [vi], 300 pages numbered 5-304, 2 blanks. Includes 7 illustrations by Jana Heidersdorf. Pages 220mm x 152mm. Orange cloth boards with an illustration of travellers and weapons in the ground. Text down the spine in black ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO, in bright orange ‘THE BURIED GIANT  (Folio Society logo)’. No dustjacket but comes in a green and gold paper covered slipcase which features a combination of the book cover and endpaper artwork.

See photos below.

b.USA Edition

  1. First Edition

Alfred A. Knopf. Published 3rd March 2015.Hardback. The monochrome endpapers feature a water colour aerial view of mountains and a lake, 1 blank, [iii], half-title, title, [ii], 315 pages numbered 3-317, [ii], 1 blank. Pages 232mm x 131mm. The page edges are sprayed black. Quarter bound in marbled gold paper with hunter green paper covered boards; down spine in black: ‘Kazuo Ishiguro  The Buried Giant  Knopf’. ISBN 978-0-307-27103-7.

Dustjacket. 566mm x 241mm. Front: Reseda green with a drawing of a goblet in black surrounded by gilt devices with in black above ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO’, in gilt to one side ‘a novel’ and below in black ‘the Buried Giant’. Price on front flap $26.95.

2a. Proof – First State

Alfred A. Knopf. Paperback. [i], half-title, title, [ii], 315 pages numbered 3-317, [ii]. Pages 235mm x 148mm. Blue wrappers with publication data on the front in black; down spine in black lettering: ‘The Buried Giant  Kazuo Ishiguro  (Borzoi logo) KNOPF MARCH 2015’. Inside the front wrapper is a trial of the published dustjacket front cover.

2b. Proof – Second State

Alfred A. Knopf. Paperback. [i], half-title, title, [iii], 315 pages numbered 3-317, [iii], 1 blank. Pages 235mm x 147mm. Front: Reseda green with a drawing of a goblet in black surrounded by gold devices with in black above ‘KAZUO ISHIGURO’, in gold to one side ‘a novel’, below in black ‘the Buried Giant’ and in gold ‘ADVANCE READER’S EDITION.

See photos below.