A guide to the early publishing history of The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse
A guide to the early publishing history of The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy
One can imagine the boy offering cake to his friends and saying “If you really want to know about something, it’s always best to start at the beginning.” And given the public interest, the number of enquiries we receive and the contradictory descriptions circulating amongst book sellers and aficionados of what has been the publishing sensation of the last decade, I thought I would do just that. Start at the beginning. I am especially trying to clear up the chronology of , which came first – blue or red boards, the difference in ISBN numbers, relevant dates, recorded signings, the signed stickers, the ribboned copies, the Waterstones limited editions, the later editions and an overall ‘guesstimate’ on current market values. This article refers to the first editions published in the United Kingdom
Early History
On the 21st August 2019, Charlie Mackesy published a photograph on his Facebook page of the first book coming off the Ebury press.
The boards are blue, so we can deduce the true first edition, first printing has blue boards. A week later, Mackesy posted on his Facebook account, “How odd to have it in my hand. Finally.” The book photo against this comment has blue boards. Mackesy also published a photo of his Mum reading an edition in September. Again the photo depicts the blue boards.
On the 2nd September 2019, pre release, Mackesy announced four book signings, all in October 2019. The advert above displays a copy with blue boards.
Waterstones published the book’s release date 10th October 2019 the day after the first advertised signing at their flagship store in Piccadilly. Their website offered a limited number of signed first state editions with a “signed by the author” sticker, page ribbon and the ISBN of 9781785177347. Our understanding is that these copies were predominantly sold through Waterstones and as well as online, they were available in limited numbers at the book signing on the 9th October in Piccadilly. They sold out within hours. Barring one review which is clearly from an acquaintance of Mackesy on the 7th October, all reviews on the Waterstones site are after the release date of 10th October 2019.
The remaining, more common, blue boarded first edition, first printing copies (with original number line of 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1), and subsequent printings with later number lines, i.e. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2) had an ISBN of 9781529105100. They did not have the blue page ribbon. This is the ISBN which is generally cited by UK book sellers, i.e. Blackwells, Amazon etc. Waterstones also sold these copies alongside the variant with the blue ribbon. Some of these were signed by Mackesy at events. They have a signed copy sticker rather than the signed by the author sticker. An executive at Penguin/Ebury Press said that following the critical reception and unparalleled demand for the book, they were left scrambling to publish an additional 200000 copies.
On the 20th November Mark Skinner announced The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse as their Book of the Year via a blog on the Waterstones website.
The presentation and award date was set as the 28th November 2019. In time for the presentation Waterstones ordered a limited number of exclusive gift editions from Penguin/Ebury Press – presented in a red quarter bound jacket, with deluxe gold ribbon and featuring extra illustrations including a hand-drawn Ex Libris bookplate. The ISBN for this edition was 2928377005825. They contained the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and as such are rare. A number of these copies were even signed by Mackesy including some which he dated the 28th November, the night of the presentation. He also doodled a few copies with his trademark mole.
I have written to Penguin/Ebury press to ask if there is any further information available and to try and acquire printing volumes which I will publish if and when I receive a reply.
Pricing
A current survey would indicate that today’s market prices from UK, European and US rare book sellers across major websites and portals are as follows.
a) The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse with blue boards, blue ribbon, signed by the author sticker, full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, ISBN of 9781785177347 and signed by Mackesy are £4000 – £5000 depending on condition. The publication date was 10th October 2019. We have had multiple appraisal requests, but none for this signed first printing, with this ISBN. If there is a pecking order with all three variants with the full number line, my guess is when the first edition market matures over the coming years this will be the most desirable. I base this on that it was the bona fide signed first edition first printing, published as such with a distinct ISBN and that traditionally, branded editions such as the Waterstones exclusive edition below tend not to be as desirable.
b) The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse with red boards (the Waterstones exclusive edition), gold ribbon, signed, full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and ISBN of 2928377005825 are £2500- £4000 depending on condition and whether or when the book was dated or doodled. The publication date was also 10th October 2019.
c) The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse with blue boards, no ribbon, signed, signed copy sticker, full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and ISBN of 9781529105100 are £1500 – £2000 depending on condition. Once again the stated publication date is 10th October 2019.
Within the above Mackesy has variously signed Charlie, Charlie X, Charlie M X, Charlie Mackesy X and Charlie M. We have only seen use of his favoured black marker pen when signing. Any signatures to plates rather than directly to the book devalue the price. As ever, condition is king, with even minor flaws, bumping, staining, sunning and yellowing of the boards affecting value considerably.
Irrespective of which copy you have, or may be looking to acquire, any of the three 2019 first editions of The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse with a full number line and a Mackesy signature is worth a serious quantity of cake.
Subsequent editions with later number lines, in other languages, the yellow American edition, the green limited edition and movie tie in published since 2020 have prices for signed copies between £100 and £1000.
Hopefully the above will lend a little clarity to the publication discussions.
Contact
We are always interested in buying first edition copies of The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. If you have any further comments, clarifications or suggestions please feel free to email me – paul@finefirsts.com
