2 Clifford D. Simak first editions are documented on this shelf, from City (1952) to Way Station (1963) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Clifford D. Simak 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 Clifford D. Simak copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- City — 1952 · Gnome PressFirst edition is so stated on the copyright page (L.W. Currey, ABAA/ILAB, catalogues it as "First edition so stated on copyright page"). Octavo, 224 pp., bound in publisher's light green cloth; pictorial dust jacket with cover art by Frank Kelly Freas, price present at the front flap. Dealer collations differ on the spine lettering (described variously as dark green and as black), so treat lettering colour as…. The census claim is confirmed: Gnome Press, New York, 1952 is the true first — a US small-press original gathering eight Astounding stories (1944-1951), winner of the 1953 International Fantasy Award. The first British edition is Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1954 (black cloth, silver spine titling, 248 pp.); it reprints the US text and is collected in its own right, but it is not the true first. Where both are…. The UK Science Fiction Book Club issued City in 1961 by arrangement with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London; its jacket carries no printed price at the flap. Later SFBC reprints also circulate, including the SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection volume. The controlling caution is Gnome Press house practice: the press routinely left "First Edition" standing on reissues and, in some cases, left another publisher's….
- Way Station — 1963 · Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY'First Edition' stated on the copyright page AND the Doubleday code 'E 33' present at the foot of the last text page (page 210); dust jacket with price on the front flap; pale grey-green cloth. Hugo winner (serialized as 'Here Gather the Stars'). The US Doubleday hardcover is the true first; UK and paperback editions follow. A true first must show both the stated 'First Edition' line and the 'E 33' code on page 210, which Doubleday used to mark this first printing. The Science Fiction Book Club edition carries the rear-board lower-corner blindstamp and an unpriced 'Book Club Edition' jacket; its thinner boards and the absence of the 'E 33' code distinguish it from the trade first.
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