Carl Sagan First Editions

• Intelligent Life in the Universe — 1966 · Holden-DayFirst edition, first printing published by Holden-Day, San Francisco, in 1966; red cloth stamped in black and gilt, with photo-pictorial dust jacket. Sagan's first book, written with I.S. Shklovskii as an expanded adaptation of Shklovskii's earlier Russian work. US true first (Holden-Day, 1966). Co-authored with I.S. Shklovskii. No prominent book-club edition displaces the Holden-Day first.
• Planets — 1966 · Time-Life BooksVolume in the Time-Life Life Science Library, 1966, by Carl Sagan with Jonathan Norton Leonard. A first-year 1966 printing is the earliest state, but Time-Life series volumes were reprinted heavily and do not follow a reliable number-line convention, so a specific first-printing point cannot be asserted with confidence. US true first (Time-Life, 1966). A series volume, minor in the Sagan canon. Series book reprinted many times with no consistent printing-identification convention; first-printing status is difficult to establish and the volume is not individually collected in the way Sagan's authored trade books are.
• The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective — 1973 · Anchor Press / DoubledayAnchor Press/Doubleday first printing, produced by Jerome Agel, jacket painting by Jon Lomberg. Doubleday first printings of this era carry 'First Edition' stated beneath the copyright notice; the unclipped price appears on the front jacket flap. Note Doubleday's number line, when present, counts upward. US true first, published by Anchor Press/Doubleday in 1973. No earlier UK issue precedes it. Book-club reprints omit the jacket price and the Doubleday 'First Edition' statement; watch for a club blind-stamp on the rear board.
• The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence — 1977 · Random HouseCopyright page states 'First Edition' AND retains the number line beginning at 2 (Random House convention: 'First Edition' present together with the lowest number being 2 indicates the first printing). Quarto in kelly-green cloth boards with gilt spine lettering and blindstamped author initials to the front cover; M.C. Escher-illustrated endpapers; 263 pp. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the…. The US Random House edition is the true first, preceding any UK edition. The book won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Signed copies carry no precedence over the trade first. Book-of-the-Month Club editions lack the front-flap printed price (a blindstamped dot or square appears on the lower rear board) and do not follow the Random House first-printing convention. The combination of the stated 'First Edition' and the number line beginning at 2, plus the priced jacket, identifies the true first.
• Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record — 1978 · Random HouseRandom House first printing states 'First Edition' with a number line that begins at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9), the standard Random House first-printing marker of this period; the price is intact on the front jacket flap. Quarto, illustrated. Co-authored with Frank Drake, Ann Druyan, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg, and Linda Salzman Sagan. US true first, published by Random House on October 12, 1978. Book-club reprints lack the jacket price and typically the 'First Edition' statement.
• Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science — 1979 · Random HouseRandom House first printing states 'First Edition' together with a number line beginning at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9), the Random House first-printing marker; the price is present on the front jacket flap. Essay collection, black cloth with gilt spine lettering. US true first, published by Random House in 1979. Book-club editions omit the jacket price and carry a rear-board blind-stamp.
• Cosmos — 1980 · Random HouseFirst edition, first printing: copyright page states 'FIRST EDITION' with no number line below it (Random House convention of the period). Original dust jacket with its printed price, lavishly illustrated. Issued alongside the PBS television series. US Random House 1980 is the true first, preceding the UK Macdonald Futura edition. Signed Sagan copies carry strong premiums. Television tie-in printings followed quickly. Book club editions lack the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, are slightly smaller, have a blind board stamp, and carry an unpriced jacket.
• Comet — 1985 · Random HouseRandom House first printing states 'First Edition' with a number line beginning at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9), the Random House first-printing marker; the price is present on the front jacket flap. Quarto, illustrated endpapers and jacket. Co-authored with Ann Druyan. US true first, published by Random House in 1985. Book-club reprints omit the jacket price.
• Contact: A Novel — 1985 · Simon & SchusterThe Simon & Schuster first printing carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page (lowest number 1 present). Bound in black paper-covered boards with a black cloth spine lettered in gilt, and issued in a priced pictorial dust jacket with the price printed on the front flap. Sagan's only novel; a first-edition, first-printing copy will show that flap price intact and unclipped. US true first, published by Simon & Schuster in 1985. Book-club editions are printed on lighter bulk, omit the jacket flap price, and carry a small blind-stamped indentation on the rear board; they lack the copyright-page number line.
• A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race — 1990 · Random HouseRandom House first printing states 'First Edition' with a number line beginning at 2 (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9), the Random House first-printing marker of this period; the price is present on the front jacket flap. Black cloth with gilt spine lettering. Co-authored with Richard Turco. US true first, published by Random House in 1990. Book-club reprints omit the jacket price and typically the 'First Edition' statement.
• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are — 1992 · Random HouseRandom House states 'First Edition' on the copyright page accompanied by a Random House number line whose lowest digit is 2 (Random House first printings of this era do not carry a 1; the line reads down to 2 alongside the 'First Edition' statement). Bound in burgundy and green cloth with gilt spine lettering, with pictorial endpapers illustrating an evolutionary scheme; issued in a priced dust jacket. Co-written…. US Random House printing is the true first. A UK Century edition appeared the same year with a variant subtitle, but the US edition is the first publication. No prominent book-club edition.
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space — 1994 · Random HouseCopyright page states 'First Edition' with a number line whose lowest number is 2, the Random House first-printing convention for this period. Black cloth with gilt spine; profusely illustrated with color plates; 429 pp; ISBN 0-679-43841-6. First-issue jacket with the printed price. The US Random House edition is the true first and precedes the UK (Headline) edition. Sagan died in 1996; signed copies are scarce but carry no bibliographic priority. Book-club and trade-paperback issues lack the price-printed hardcover jacket, may carry a rear-board blindstamp, and do not state 'First Edition.' The stated 'First Edition' with a number line bottoming at 2 and the price-printed jacket mark the trade first. Note the trade-paperback issue carries a different ISBN (0-679-76486-1).
• The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark — 1995 · Random HouseCopyright page states 'First Edition' with the Random House number line beginning at '2' (the house convention of the period). ISBN 0-394-53512-X. The first-issue jacket shows the printed price on the front flap. The US Random House edition is the true first, preceding the UK (Headline) edition. Among Sagan's last books before his 1996 death. Book-club copies (BOMC/QPB) omit the printed price, may carry a rear-board blindstamp, and lack the 'First Edition' statement. The stated 'First Edition' plus the Random House line beginning at '2' plus the priced jacket identify the trade first.
• Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium — 1997 · Random HouseThe Random House first printing follows the house convention: the words 'First Edition' are stated on the copyright page together with a number line that begins at 2 in the Random House even-number pattern (2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3), not a line ending in 1. Bound in black boards with gilt lettering on the spine and issued in a priced pictorial dust jacket. Published posthumously; includes an epilogue by Ann Druyan. ISBN…. US true first (Random House, 1997), Sagan's last book, completed after his death in December 1996. No prominent book-club edition.
• The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God — 2006 · The Penguin PressThe Penguin Press first printing identified by a complete number line ending in 1; issued in a priced dust jacket. Drawn from Sagan's 1985 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow; edited by Ann Druyan and published posthumously. US true first (The Penguin Press); first appearance in book form of the Gifford Lectures. No book-club edition.

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