When Was A Guide Thicker Than Blood First Published?

I’ve dug through my mental bookshelf and a few habit-driven Google-search tricks, but I don’t have a single definitive publication date for 'Thicker Than Blood' (or 'A Guide: Thicker Than Blood' if that’s the exact phrasing) off the top of my head. I’m the sort of person who hoards oddball guides and tie-in books, though, so I can walk you through how I’d pin this down quickly — and why you’ll sometimes see more than one “first published” date when you look.

If you can, the fastest route is to give me one small detail: the author’s name, a publisher, or where you first heard about it. Without that, here’s what I normally do as a reader who’s also part-time obsessive bibliophile: first I check the book’s copyright page (physical copy) or the metadata on Google Books/Amazon for the exact publication year and edition. For older or rare guides, WorldCat and the Library of Congress catalogue are lifesavers — they’ll often list the first edition and show library holdings worldwide. Goodreads can help too, but be cautious there because user input sometimes blurs editions.

If you don’t have the book in hand, try these quick steps I use from my phone: search the full title in quotes on Google ("'Thicker Than Blood'"), then add possible authors or the word "guide" if you suspect it’s a companion book. If that yields multiple hits, follow up with site-specific searches like site:archive.org or site:worldcat.org to see scanned copies or library records. On Amazon/Google Books, click into "Look inside" or the book details — publishers usually list original publication year and ISBN. For academic-style or indie guides, check the publisher’s website; small presses often keep neat archives. If it’s a fan-made or self-published guide, dates can be messy — sometimes the ebook date is different from the POD or print run.

Just as a heads-up from having hunted down weird tie-in materials before: "first published" can mean different things — first print run, first edition, or first time it appeared online as a PDF. If the guide is tied to a larger franchise or fandom, you might find a fan wiki that logs release dates in granularity. If it’s a short zine or convention guide, community posts or Etsy/shop listings sometimes carry the original year too.

If you want, toss me whatever little detail you have (author, a line from the blurb, or where you saw the title) and I’ll try to narrow it down into a concrete year and a citation-style source. I love this kind of detective work — it’s oddly satisfying to pin down a publication history, and I’ll happily keep digging with you until we find the first date that truly counts to you. What clue can you throw my way first?