How Can You Tell a First Printing of the Ghost in the Shell Manga?
The colophon decides: Japanese printings are dated on the last page, not the cover.
Japanese books carry their printing history openly. The first edition of the Ghost in the Shell tankobon was released by Kodansha on October 2, 1991, and its colophon (the 奥付 page at the back) records the first printing as October 5, 1991. Because the same ISBN, 978-4-06-313248-9, has served decades of reprints, the ISBN alone proves nothing: the printing line in the colophon is the document that matters.
THE CHECKS
In order1 · The colophon line
Open the back of the book. A first printing reads 初版 with the October 5, 1991 date; later impressions are numbered (the book has been reprinted dozens of times; one bookseller notes seeing a 62nd printing).
2 · ISBN 4-06-313248-X
The ISBN-10 printed in the first edition’s colophon, under Kodansha’s name as publisher, with binding credited to Kokuhosha.
3 · Price and makeup
¥971 plus tax, KC Deluxe imprint, 284 monochrome pages and 64 color pages. A copy matching the price and page makeup but dated later is a reprint, however clean.
4 · The subtitle
The original book’s title page styling pairs 攻殻機動隊 with “THE GHOST IN THE SHELL” as subtitle, the arrangement later editions rearrange as the English title grew to lead.
WHY IT PAYS TO CHECK
Same shell, many printingsA perennial backlist title
Ghost in the Shell has never really gone out of print in Japan, which is exactly why “1991 edition” listings need the colophon check: the date on a sale listing is the edition’s birthday, not necessarily the copy’s.