7 Jim Thompson first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Killer Inside Me (1952) to Pop. 1280 (1964) across 7 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Jim Thompson 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 Jim Thompson copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Killer Inside Me — 1952 · Lion BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Lion Books #99 (1952), the printed price. Wraps-only; no hardcover precedes it. Lion Books logo on spine/cover and the catalog number 99 identify the issue. A cornerstone Thompson paperback original and his most collected title. The paperback IS the true first; Thompson's classic Lion/Lion Library titles were nearly all paperback originals. Much later hardcover reprints (e.g., later collected/reissued editions) are 'first thus' only. No book-club edition. Distinguish the Lion #99 first from the later Lion Library reissue and from modern reprints (Black Lizard, Mulholland, etc.), which are obvious modern editions.
- Savage Night — 1953 · Lion BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Lion Books #155 (1953). Paperback wraps; no hardcover precedes it. Lion logo and number 155; first printing carries the original price and no later-printing line. Paperback is the true first. Modern reprints are first-thus only. No book-club edition. Distinguish the Lion #155 first from later reissues.
- A Hell of a Woman — 1954 · Lion BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Lion Books #218 (1954), the printed price. Paperback wraps; no hardcover precedes it. Lion logo and catalog number 218. Famous for its split-narrative ending. First printing has no later-printing statement. Paperback is the true first. Modern reprints (Black Lizard etc.) are first-thus only. No book-club edition. Distinguish the Lion #218 first from later Lion Library reissues and modern reprints.
- After Dark, My Sweet — 1955 · Popular LibraryA paperback original, first published as Popular Library #716 in December 1955; the catalogue number appears on the front cover, and the book is a 16mo mass-market paperback collected only in its original wrappers. Cover art is reported as by Ray Johnson. Because the book was never issued in a contemporaneous hardcover, the 1955 Popular Library wraps are the first appearance in book form and the only first…. The census claim is correct: the US Popular Library paperback original of 1955 is the true first, and no UK or foreign-language edition precedes or is simultaneous with it. There is no rival edition to name — everything else is downstream. Later UK and US reissues (including the Orion Crime Masterworks and Mulholland Classic editions) are reprints, "first thus" at best; the claim in the census that no hardcover…. No book-club edition exists — the title is a mass-market paperback original. The reprint tells are the successor imprints rather than club markings: any copy bearing an imprint other than Popular Library, carrying an ISBN, or showing a number line is a later reissue, since none of those features belong to a 1955 Popular Library. Later Popular Library printings of #716 would be stated on the copyright page.
- The Getaway — 1958 · SignetTrue first is the paperback original, Signet S1584, published January 1959 (copyright 1958); pictorial wraps with cover art by Robert Maguire, 127 pages. No hardcover precedes it. The Signet imprint and the catalog number S1584 on the cover and spine identify the first printing. The Signet paperback original is the true first; for over a decade the only other appearance was the French Serie Noire translation. Movie tie-in editions (after the 1972 Peckinpah film and the 1994 remake) are much later reprints. No book-club edition. Distinguish the first Signet from later Signet printings (later catalog numbers or an added printing statement) and from the film tie-in covers.
- The Grifters — 1963 · Regency BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Regency Books RB 110 (1963). Paperback wraps; no prior hardcover. Regency Books imprint (the Chicago imprint associated with editor Harlan Ellison) and the RB 110 number identify the first. Paperback is the true first. Reissued later (e.g., by Berkley and tie-in editions after the 1990 film); those are reprints/first-thus. No book-club edition. The 1963 Regency RB 110 wraps are the first; movie tie-in and modern paperbacks postdate the 1990 film and are clearly later.
- Pop. 1280 — 1964 · Gold Medal BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Fawcett Gold Medal k1438 (1964), the printed price. Paperback wraps; no hardcover precedes it. Gold Medal logo and catalog number k1438; first printing has no additional printing line. Paperback is the true first. Later reprints and modern editions (Black Lizard etc.) are first-thus only. Among the most sought Thompson Gold Medal originals. No book-club edition. First Gold Medal printing has the original the printed price and no later-printing statement; later Fawcett printings raise the price and add printing data.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: John Banville, John Barth, John Berryman, John Cheever, John Dos Passos, John Fante.
← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.