First Editions · Impossible Creatures
First Edition Guide
A guide to the first edition, first printing hardbacks of the Impossible Creatures series: what physically distinguishes each one, and the ISBN to check it against. Signed editions, retailer exclusives, sprayed and printed edges, and the independent bookshop variants.
Later printings, paperbacks, reissues and book club editions are outside the scope of this guide. Where an ISBN is listed below, it identifies the original hardback release only, and the number line on the copyright page is what confirms a first printing.
Impossible Creatures · 2023
The book that started the series and won the Waterstones Book of the Year 2023. It is the most complicated title in the series to collect, because two separate Waterstones exclusives exist, made either side of the award. The first came before it. The second was created afterwards, carries the award banner on the jacket, and has its own ISBN and therefore its own first printing.
★★★★½ Our review of Impossible Creatures Read it →UK Editions
The scarcest of the Book One editions. Hand-signed, sprayed edges and gold foil, sold only through independent bookshops. The book itself carries the standard trade ISBN, so it cannot be verified by number at all. Indie bookshop websites often append an S to the listing to mark the signed edition, but that S is a shop convention and never appears on the barcode. Photographs of the signature, the sprayed edges and the foil boards are the only proof.
Retailer Signed Edition
The signed version of the first Waterstones exclusive, produced before the Book of the Year award. Hand-signed by Katherine Rundell, white top and bottom edges with the sprayed design on the foredge, custom endpapers, and a bonus Archipelago short story not in the trade edition. A black Waterstones Signed Exclusive Edition roundel sits low on the jacket rather than up in the sky.
Retailer Exclusive
The same book as the signed exclusive above, issued without a signature. Produced before the award, so there is no banner on the jacket. White top and bottom edges, sprayed foredge, and a black Exclusive Edition roundel low on the front panel. Hand-signed copies of the exclusives circulate, so a signature by itself will not tell you which of the two exclusives you are holding.
Retailer Exclusive
Made after the award, and a separate product rather than a reprint: its own ISBN, and therefore its own first printing. Two things identify it at a glance. Blue top and bottom edges where the first exclusive is white, and a gold WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR banner across the top of the jacket. This is the one that shelves as a matched set with the sprayed editions of The Poisoned King and The Neverfear.
Standard First Edition
The trade hardback, 368 pages, sold everywhere rather than through any one retailer. Plain edges, no roundel. First printings are what collectors want here, so check the number line on the copyright page. Jackets printed after the award carry the Book of the Year banner, which on this ISBN does indicate a later printing.
US Editions
Signed Edition
The signed US edition, carrying a gold SIGNED COPY roundel on the jacket and its own ISBN separate from the standard printing. Red sprayed edges, and red boards with red foil beneath the jacket.
The US retailer exclusive, published 10 September 2024, 368 pages. Named 2024 Barnes and Noble Children's Book of the Year, and the jacket carries a gold Book of the Year roundel. Physically distinct from the other two US printings: blue sprayed edges, and blue boards with gold foil beneath the jacket, where the signed and standard editions are red with red foil. Sold only through Barnes and Noble.
Standard First Edition
The US trade hardback, art by Ashley Mackenzie. Red sprayed edges, and red boards with red foil beneath the jacket. Copies also turn up with a Barnes and Noble Book of the Year roundel applied to standard stock, which is a sticker rather than the exclusive edition above.
- Any unsigned edition above can be signed in person at an event. It keeps the ISBN it was issued with.
- A hand-signed exclusive is not a separate edition. Nothing on the barcode distinguishes it.
- A publisher signed edition is issued signed under its own ISBN. Those are listed above.
- Event copies are often stamped as well as signed, usually to the title page or front endpaper, sometimes dated.
- Of the UK editions, only the indie ones have foil boards under the jacket. Every other UK edition has plain boards, so a jacketless copy can still be identified. The US printings all have coloured boards with foil, and the colour differs by edition.
The Poisoned King · 2025
Book Two settled into the pattern the series has followed since: a standard hardback, a Waterstones signed exclusive, an unsigned Waterstones exclusive with the same edge treatment, and a signed foil edition through independent bookshops.
★★★★★ Our review of The Poisoned King Read it →UK Editions
Hand-signed and sold only through independent bookshops. The book carries the standard trade ISBN, and the S you may see appended on a shop website is a listing convention rather than anything printed on the copy. Photographs of the signature are the only proof a listing can offer.
Retailer Signed Edition
Hand-signed by Katherine Rundell with the exclusive sprayed edge design, under its own ISBN. Long gone at retail and the scarcer of the two Waterstones versions of Book Two.
Retailer Exclusive
The same edge treatment without the signature, under its own ISBN. Sellers routinely describe this as the signed edition, so match the barcode against the number above before paying a signed premium.
Standard First Edition
The trade hardback, 336 pages, sold everywhere rather than through any one retailer. Plain edges, no roundel. Check the number line on the copyright page for a first printing.
US Editions
Published 28 November 2025, limited to one per customer and now out of stock online. The scarcest of the US editions of Book Two, and the only signed US printing.
The unsigned Barnes and Noble exclusive, published 11 September 2025. Same publication day as the trade hardback, under its own ISBN.
A sprayed edge edition sold through American independent bookshops, issued under the standard hardback ISBN. Physically a different book from the trade edition, but nothing on the barcode says so, which is the same trap as the signed indie editions in the UK. Photographs of the edges are the only way to tell them apart in a listing.
The US trade hardback, published 11 September 2025, 304 pages, art by Ashley Mackenzie.
- Any unsigned edition above can be signed in person at an event. It keeps the ISBN it was issued with.
- A hand-signed exclusive is not a separate edition. Nothing on the barcode distinguishes it.
- A publisher signed edition is issued signed under its own ISBN. Those are listed above.
- Event copies are often stamped as well as signed, usually to the title page or front endpaper, sometimes dated.
- Of the UK editions, only the indie ones have foil boards under the jacket. Every other UK edition has plain boards, so a jacketless copy can still be identified. The US printings all have coloured boards with foil, and the colour differs by edition.
The Neverfear · 2026
Published 27th August 2026. The Waterstones signed edition sold out online within two days and has since returned to shop ordering, so check before assuming either way. UK editions first, then the US Knopf and Barnes and Noble editions.
★★★★★ Our review of The Neverfear Read it →UK Editions
Hand-signed with sprayed edges and foil, sold through independent bookshops. The edge design differs from the Waterstones one. It carries the standard trade ISBN, with any S suffix existing only in a shop's own listing, so the number cannot verify it. Availability varies shop by shop.
Retailer Signed Edition
Hand-signed by Katherine Rundell, with the same exclusive sprayed edge as the unsigned exclusive. It sold out online within two days of publication, and stock has since reappeared for ordering through Waterstones shops, so availability is worth checking rather than assuming. Copies are already being listed above cover price, so check the barcode before paying a premium for anything described as signed.
Retailer Exclusive
The unsigned version of the exclusive, same sprayed edge without the signature. 368 pages. The most straightforward route to the exclusive edge design, and generally easier to find than the signed version.
View at Waterstones →
Standard First Edition
The UK trade hardback, described by the publisher as adorned with blue foil. Plain edges, no roundel, sold everywhere. Check the number line on the copyright page for a first printing.
View at Waterstones →US Editions
The US equivalent of the Waterstones exclusive, published 1 September 2026, 304 pages. Blue sprayed edges rather than the red stained edges of the standard Knopf printing, and a unique case. Sold only through Barnes and Noble, which makes it one of the harder editions to obtain from the UK.
The US trade hardback, published 1 September 2026, 336 pages, art by Ashley Mackenzie. Foil and embossing on the jacket, designed endpapers, stained edges and interior illustrations. A different cover from the UK hardback, so a separate collectible rather than a printing variant.
- Any unsigned edition above can be signed in person at an event. It keeps the ISBN it was issued with.
- A hand-signed exclusive is not a separate edition. Nothing on the barcode distinguishes it.
- A publisher signed edition is issued signed under its own ISBN. Those are listed above.
- Event copies are often stamped as well as signed, usually to the title page or front endpaper, sometimes dated.
- Of the UK editions, only the indie ones have foil boards under the jacket. Every other UK edition has plain boards, so a jacketless copy can still be identified. The US printings all have coloured boards with foil, and the colour differs by edition.
Before Publication
Advance Proofs
Bloomsbury circulates uncorrected proof copies of each book to reviewers, booksellers and press ahead of publication. Proofs are paperback, usually carry a plainer cover treatment than the finished book, and are marked not for sale. The text can differ from the published version. They are printed in small numbers and never sold in shops, which is what makes them worth having once the finished book is out.
Buying Guidance
Collector's Checklist
The S suffix is a shop listing, not an ISBN. Across all three books, the signed independent bookshop edition is printed with the standard trade ISBN. Some indie websites append an S to their own listing to mark it as the signed version, but nothing on the book says so and the barcode is identical to the trade hardback. The same is true of the US indie sprayed edition of The Poisoned King. Photographs of the signature and the edges are the only proof.
Check the top and bottom edges on Book One. The two Waterstones exclusives look near identical from the front. White top and bottom edges mean the earlier and scarcer 9781526675255, which is also the edge colour of the signed 9781526668981. Blue top and bottom means the later 9781526677006, which was made after the award and carries the Book of the Year banner on its jacket. Between those two, the banner and the edge colour agree with each other, so either will tell you which exclusive a seller actually has.
Signed and exclusive are not the same word. Every Waterstones exclusive in this series has an unsigned twin with the same edge design. Listings routinely describe the unsigned version as the signed one. Match the barcode to the ISBN above before paying a signed premium.
Trust photographs over descriptions. Sprayed edges, foil, printed foredges and endpapers should be visible in photographs of the copy being sold, not merely described in the blurb.
Check the number line. On the copyright page, a number line ending in 1 usually indicates a first printing.