3 Alfred Bester first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Demolished Man (1953) to The Stars My Destination (1957) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Alfred Bester title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Alfred Bester copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Demolished Man — 1953 · Shasta PublishersBlue quarter-cloth spine lettered in gilt over dark red paper-covered boards lettered in white, with black topstain; copyright page states 'First Edition'; 250 pp; priced dust jacket with art by Martin Herbstman; printed by H. Wolff. No statement of a later printing. US Shasta 1953 is the true first book edition (the text first appeared serialized in Galaxy, Jan-Mar 1952). A small group of subscriber copies were signed by Bester on the front free endpaper. The UK Sidgwick & Jackson edition (1953) is later. Watch for the Shasta second printing, whose copyright page reads 'Second Edition' (still the original publisher, but not the first printing) and lacks the 'First Edition' statement. Later Signet/Berkley paperbacks and any club reprint are not the first.
- The Stars My Destination (Tiger! Tiger!) — 1956 (UK) / 1957 (US) · Signet/NALThe US edition was a PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: Signet S1389 (1957), titled 'The Stars My Destination.' The earlier UK first is the hardcover 'Tiger! Tiger!' (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1956). So the true world first is the UK hardcover under the alternate title; the US first appearance is the Signet paperback. US Signet S1389 with no later-printing line is the first US printing. Global true first is the UK hardcover 'Tiger! Tiger!' (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1956). The US first is the paperback-original Signet (1957) under the better-known title; it is the first US edition and a paperback original for the US market. No book-club edition for the original paperback. Distinguish the UK 'Tiger! Tiger!' hardcover first, the Signet S1389 US PBO first, and later reprints under either title.
- The Stars My Destination — 1957 · Signet / New American LibraryUS paperback original, Signet / New American Library (New York), 1957, catalogued as Signet S1389, with its printed cover price and first-printing code intact; William Blake's 'The Tyger' is printed at the front of the text. The genuine world first appeared earlier in the UK as 'Tiger! Tiger!' from Sidgwick & Jackson (London) in hardcover, June 1956. Under the US title 'The Stars My Destination,' the Signet paperback (S1389, 1957) is the true US first. The world first edition is the UK Sidgwick & Jackson hardcover 'Tiger! Tiger!' (June 1956), which precedes the US edition and bears the different title; collectors distinguish the two by title. Later Signet printings raise the cover price and code away from the S1389 first-printing state. Do not confuse the US paperback with the earlier, scarcer UK 'Tiger! Tiger!' hardcover, which is the true world first.
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