First edition, uncorrected proof copy. This is a proof copy of Rushdie’s eighth novel, bound in pictorial wrappers which use the same cover image as the published edition, although the image is significantly cropped on the proof wrappers. In the proof copy the text is on pp. 4-259, p. [260] is blank, p. [261] is titled ‘About the Author’, and the following pages are blank.

Proof copies of this title are much scarcer than the first edition, and the proof shows some variations from the final publication.