# Is "Adventures in Time and Space (eds. Healy & McComas)" by Raymond J. Healy & J. Francis McComas (editors) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Adventures in Time and Space (eds. Healy & McComas) by Raymond J. Healy & J. Francis McComas (editors) (Random House, New York, 1946) is identified by: First printing, June 1946, collating 997 pp. Census claim confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing, June 1946, collating 997 pp
- Random House used no 'First Edition' statement in this period (that practice began only in 1968) and no number line, so the first printing is identified negatively: 'Copyright, 1946, by Random House' on the copyright page with NO later-printing or reprint statement present, together with the full 997-pp collation
- The decisive point is the dust jacket, which exists in two states
- FIRST STATE (withdrawn quickly and scarce) carries two errors: the painted subtitle on the front panel begins '36 Non-Fiction Stories of the Future', and the printed blurb on the front flap begins 'A collection of thirty-four stories'
- SECOND STATE corrects both: the subtitle is re-painted to '35 Science-Fiction Stories of the Future' and the flap blurb begins 'A collection of thirty-five stories'
- The book itself is identical under either jacket, and first-printing books are found in both states
- Publisher imprint reads Random House, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Raymond J. Healy & J. Francis McComas (editors) |
| Publisher | Random House, New York |
| Year | 1946 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing, June 1946, collating 997 pp |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing, June 1946, collating 997 pp. Random House used no 'First Edition' statement in this period (that practice began only in 1968) and no number line, so the first printing is identified negatively: 'Copyright, 1946, by Random House' on the copyright page with NO later-printing or reprint statement present, together with the full 997-pp collation. The decisive point is the dust jacket, which exists in two states. FIRST STATE (withdrawn quickly and scarce) carries two errors: the painted subtitle on the front panel begins '36 Non-Fiction Stories of the Future', and the printed blurb on the front flap begins 'A collection of thirty-four stories'. SECOND STATE corrects both: the subtitle is re-painted to '35 Science-Fiction Stories of the Future' and the flap blurb begins 'A collection of thirty-five stories'. The book itself is identical under either jacket, and first-printing books are found in both states. Priced jacket: price present at the flap.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim confirmed. Random House (New York, 1946) is the true first edition — a US original with no UK or foreign-language predecessor, so only the US edition is collected and there is no competing first to name. Later editions are all separate and at best 'first thus': the Modern Library issue of 1957, retitled 'Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space', and the Ballantine/Del Rey reissue of 1975.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The key reprint tell is collation. A copy collating 824 pp, with the last five stories absent, is a later shortened printing and never the first. Sources conflict on when that shortened text appeared — dealer collations attribute it to the fourth printing of August 1950, while Wikipedia describes a shortened 'second edition' issued in 1946 — but the 997-pp versus 824-pp distinction is decisive regardless of which date is right. Any copy lacking the full 997 pp is not the first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Adventures in Time and Space (eds. Healy & McComas)* by Raymond J. Healy & J. Francis McComas (editors) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/adventures-in-time-and-space-eds-healy-mccomas
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.