Harlan Ellison First Editions

• The Deadly Streets — 1958 · AceAce paperback original, catalog number D-312, with the printed price cover price. Collection of Ellison's own juvenile-delinquent and street-crime stories; cover art by Barclay Shaw. The original gathers eleven stories. US Ace paperback original is the true first and is Ellison's first published book. A revised and expanded edition appeared in 1975 with five additional stories added to the original eleven. No book club edition; this title appeared only as a mass-market paperback original.
• A Touch of Infinity — 1960 · AceNot a standalone book. A Touch of Infinity is one half of Ace Double D-413, bound dos-a-dos (back-to-back, tete-beche) with The Man With Nine Lives. The number D-413 is the Ace Double designation, and the printed price cover price applies to the combined volume. It collects five science-fiction stories and is Ellison's first SF collection. US Ace Double D-413 is the true first appearance. The original record's framing as a self-contained Ace PBO is imprecise; the point of issue is that it shares the Ace Double with The Man With Nine Lives. No book club edition; appeared only within the Ace Double paperback.
• Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation — 1961 · Regency BooksRegency Books paperback original, catalog number RB 102 (not RB 110), published in Evanston, Illinois. Mainstream-fiction collection of social-commentary stories; cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon, introduction by Frank M. Robinson. US Regency paperback original is the true first. Revised and expanded hardcover and paperback editions appeared much later. No book club edition for the true first; original was a mass-market paperback original.
• The Juvies — 1961 · AceAce paperback original, catalog number D-513, with the printed price cover price. Collection of Ellison's own crime and juvenile-delinquent stories; front-cover tagline 'Life and Death of the Gutter Kids.'. US Ace paperback original is the true first. Later reissued under the title Children of the Streets. No book club edition; mass-market paperback original only.
• Ellison Wonderland — 1962 · Paperback LibraryPaperback Library paperback original, catalog number 52-149, first printing dated June 1962, 191 pages in pictorial wraps with cover art by Victor Kalin, the printed price on the cover. Collects sixteen mostly-fantasy stories: Commuter's Problem; Do-It-Yourself; The Silver Corridor; All the Sounds of Fear; Gnomebody; The Sky Is Burning; Mealtime; The Very Last Day of a Good Woman; Battlefield; Deal from the…. The US Paperback Library paperback original (52-149, June 1962) is the true first; no prior hardcover edition preceded it. No book club edition; a mass-market paperback original only. Later reissues carry different catalog numbers and cover art and are readily distinguished from the June 1962 first printing.
• Paingod and Other Delusions — 1965 · PyramidPyramid Books paperback original, catalog number R-1270, first printing 1965. Science-fiction story collection with front-cover art by Jack Gaughan; the true first carries the R-1270 number and the original wraparound Gaughan cover, and the printed cover price should be present on a genuine first-issue copy. As a paperback original there is no separate hardcover first; the copyright page bears no later-printing…. US Pyramid paperback original (R-1270) is the true first printing; there was no simultaneous hardcover and no prior appearance of the collection as a book. No book club edition. Caution: a later Pyramid printing carries the catalog number X-1991 and is also marked 'first edition' on the copyright page, but it is a subsequent printing, not the true first; the true first is R-1270. Pyramid reissued the collection several times over the following fifteen years, and a new introduction was added for the 1975 uniform Ellison edition, so copies containing that introduction….
• Dangerous Visions — 1967 · DoubledayFirst printing states First Edition on the copyright page, with the standard Doubleday letter or numeral code on the final text page, and a priced dust jacket. Landmark original anthology of 33 stories, edited by Ellison, with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon. US Doubleday first hardcover is the true first. Book club edition lacks the First Edition statement, is typically blind-stamped on the rear board, and has no price on the jacket.
• From the Land of Fear — 1967 · BelmontBelmont paperback original, catalogue number B60-069, first printing December 1967, cover the printed price printed on the front cover. Wraparound cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. A collection of eleven stories, opening with Roger Zelazny's foreword 'In Praise of His Spirits Noble and Otherwise' and Ellison's own introduction 'Where the Stray Dreams Go'; the contents include 'Soldier,' the story and Outer…. US Belmont paperback original (B60-069, December 1967) is the true first; there is no preceding hardcover. No book-club edition; a paperback original. Later Belmont and Ace/Berkley reissues carry different catalogue numbers and cover art and are reprints.
• I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream — 1967 · PyramidPyramid Science Fiction paperback original, catalog number X-1611, stating first printing April 1967 on the copyright page. Cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. Story collection whose title story won the 1968 Hugo for best short story. US Pyramid paperback original is the true first; there was no prior hardcover. No book club edition.
• Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled — 1968 · Trident PressTrident Press first hardcover, New York, 1968, collecting twenty-two stories in 382 pages. Bound with a blue cloth spine over brown paper-covered boards, the title stamped in gilt on the spine, with the top edge dyed brown. First-state dust jacket designed by Leo and Diane Dillon, with the printed price intact on the front flap. First printings carry no statement of additional printings on the copyright page. US Trident Press first hardcover (New York, 1968) is the true first edition. No widely documented book-club edition; identify the first by the Trident Press 1968 imprint, the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page, and the Dillon-designed priced jacket rather than by a blind-stamp test.
• Over the Edge — 1970 · BelmontBelmont Books paperback original, first printing 1970, catalog number B75-1091, with wraparound cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. A collection of twelve stories with an introduction by Norman Spinrad. The Dillon cover is the first-printing point. US Belmont paperback original (1970) is the true first; issued only in wrappers. No book club edition. A later Belmont printing (October 1972) replaced the Dillon cover with new art by Robert Foster and carries a later printing statement — the swapped cover art is the key later-printing tell.
• The Glass Teat — 1970 · AceAce paperback original, catalog number 29350, 318 pages plus terminal ad leaves, with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon depicting Ellison as a satyr seated at his typewriter; the printed cover price should be present. Ellison's first collection of television criticism, drawn from his weekly Los Angeles Free Press column of 1968 to 1970. US Ace paperback original (1970) is the true first. No book club edition; later reissues carry their own catalog numbers and differing cover art rather than the Dillon satyr cover.
• Alone Against Tomorrow — 1971 · MacmillanThe Macmillan Company first hardcover, 1971 (published March 1971). Cloth, 312 pages; first printing stated on the copyright page; dust jacket priced on the front flap. Collects twenty stories including 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream' and '“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman.'. US Macmillan first hardcover is the true first edition. Book club editions lack the stated first printing and the jacket price and usually carry a blind-stamped dot on the rear board.
• Partners in Wonder — 1971 · WalkerWalker and Company first hardcover, 1971. Red paper-covered boards stamped in black, deckled fore-edge; copyright page reads first published in 1971 by the Walker Publishing Company; dust jacket priced on the front flap. Fourteen collaborative stories with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. US Walker first hardcover is the true first edition. Book club editions are smaller, lack the jacket price, and typically show a blind-stamped indentation on the rear board.
• Again, Dangerous Visions — 1972 · DoubledayDoubleday first hardcover, 1972. 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page together with Doubleday's letter-and-number printing code on the last text page; dust jacket priced. Anthology of forty-six original stories edited by Ellison, illustrated by Ed Emshwiller. US Doubleday first hardcover is the true first edition. Book club edition omits the 'First Edition' statement and the jacket price and bears a blind-stamped dot on the rear board.
• Approaching Oblivion — 1974 · WalkerWalker and Company first hardcover, 1974. Orange paper-covered boards stamped in purple, octavo, 238 pages; dust jacket priced on the front flap. Eleven stories with a foreword by Michael Crichton and Dillon cover art. US Walker first hardcover is the true first edition. Book club editions lack the jacket price and typically carry a blind-stamped indentation on the rear board.
• Deathbird Stories — 1975 · Harper & RowHarper & Row first hardcover, 1975. True first printing has the printing code ending in '1' at the foot of the last text page (p. 336) and 'E-241' code on the jacket; first-state binding has a purple cloth spine over gray paper-covered boards; dust jacket priced. Collects nineteen stories. US Harper & Row first hardcover is the true first edition. Later printings retain the 'First Edition' statement but show a code ending in a higher number on the last text page; book club copies lack the jacket price.
• No Doors, No Windows — 1975 · PyramidPyramid Books paperback original, November 1975 (catalog number A3799), first printing stated on the copyright page. Collects sixteen suspense and horror stories, including the 1974 Edgar Award-winning 'The Whimper of Whipped Dogs.' Cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon; the front cover carries the printed cover price. The US Pyramid paperback original is the true first edition; the first hardcover (Borderlands Press) did not appear until 1991, so the 1975 mass-market wraps precede all hardcover states. Not applicable: a mass-market paperback original has no book-club edition. Later Pyramid printings are indicated on the copyright page; the first printing is stated as such.
• Strange Wine — 1978 · Harper & RowStated 'First Edition' on the copyright page (with no later-printing statement). Published by Harper & Row in 1978 as Strange Wine: Fifteen New Stories from the Nightside of the World, a collection of fifteen stories. The first edition is bound in brown paper-covered boards backed with brick-red cloth and lettered in gilt on the spine. The wrap-around first-issue dust jacket carries artwork by Leo and Diane…. US Harper & Row first hardcover is the true first. The Harper & Row book-club edition reprints the same text and jacket art but lacks the printed jacket price and typically shows a blind-stamped dimple on the lower rear board; its stated 'First Edition' line is absent or differs. Use the copyright-page statement, the brick-red cloth spine, and the priced Dillon jacket to confirm the true first.
• Shatterday — 1980 · Houghton MifflinThe true first printing states "First Edition, December 1980" at the head of the copyright page (Houghton Mifflin, Boston). Collection of stories including the title novella, with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon. First-state dust jacket does NOT carry the George R. R. Martin blurb (that quotation appears on later jacket states/printings) and retains its original printed price on the flap. US Houghton Mifflin first hardcover is the true first. Book-club edition lacks the printed jacket price, shows a blind-stamp on the rear board, and does not carry the "First Edition, December 1980" statement.
• Stalking the Nightmare — 1982 · Phantasia PressPhantasia Press first hardcover, Huntington Woods, Michigan, 1982, small quarto, 332 pp., collecting sixteen stories and four essays with a foreword by Stephen King. Issued in two states: a signed, numbered limited binding of 700 copies in a slipcase, the signature and limitation numbering at the rear of the text block preceding the rear endpaper; and an unsigned trade hardcover (not slipcased). Both are the true…. US Phantasia Press first hardcover (1982) is the true first; the signed/numbered limited edition (700 copies, slipcased) and the unsigned trade hardcover are both from the first printing. No book-club edition; small-press first edition only. Distinguish the slipcased signed/numbered limited (700 copies) from the plainer unsigned trade hardcover.
• Angry Candy — 1988 · Houghton MifflinHoughton Mifflin, Boston, 1988: stated "First Edition" on the copyright page with a full number line running down to 1 (the presence of the "1" confirming first printing). A collection of seventeen stories; the first-issue dust jacket carries its printed price on the front flap. The Houghton Mifflin trade hardcover is the standard first edition, but a signed Easton Press leather edition is reported to have been issued roughly a week earlier and thus technically precedes it; the Houghton Mifflin printing is the true first trade edition. The book-club edition lacks the printed jacket price and shows a blind-stamp (dimple) on the rear board, and its number line will not run down to 1.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Harper Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harry Crews, Henry Green, Henry James, Henry Miller.

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