The original Japanese edition was released in three parts, which make up the three "books" of the single volume English language version.
- Book of the Thieving Magpie (泥棒かささぎ編, Dorobō kasasagi hen)
- Book of the Prophesying Bird (予言する鳥編, Yogen suru tori hen)
- Book of the Bird-Catcher Man (鳥刺し男編, Torisashi otoko hen)
In English translation, two chapters were originally published in The New Yorker under the titles "The Zoo Attack" on July 31, 1995, and "Another Way to Die" on January 20, 1997. A slightly different version of the first chapter translated by Alfred Birnbaum was published in the collection The Elephant Vanishes under the title "The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday's Women". In addition, the character name Noboru Wataya appears in the short story "Family Affair" in The Elephant Vanishes. While having a similar personality and background, the character is not related to the one in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle of the same name. Noboru Wataya is also used in Jay Rubin's translation of the title short story in The Elephant Vanishes.
In May 2010, Harvill Secker published the Limited Centenary Edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to celebrate the publisher's hundredth year of operation. It was limited to 2,500 copies.[1]
