2 Marion Zimmer Bradley first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Forbidden Tower (1977) to The Mists of Avalon (1982) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Marion Zimmer Bradley 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 Marion Zimmer Bradley copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Forbidden Tower — 1977 · DAW BooksDAW Books mass-market paperback original, DAW collector number 256, first printing dated September 1977, pictorial wraps with cover art by Richard Hescox. Paperback original with no preceding hardcover. The DAW collector number and the printing date help identify the first printing. Paperback original; the true first is the DAW paperback of September 1977. The first hardcover was a later Gregg Press edition (1979). Awards recognition for this title was a 1978 Hugo Award nomination and a 1978 Locus Award nomination, not a Nebula; it was not a Nebula nominee. Later printings show a changed cover price and altered cover; the DAW collector number on the cover and spine helps date the printing.
The Mists of Avalon — 1982 · Alfred A. KnopfThe census year is wrong and is corrected here: the true first is Knopf, New York, 1982 — not 1983. The title page and copyright are 1982, the Library of Congress control number is 82-47810, and Knopf-imprint copies dated 1983 are later printings (a Knopf 1983 fourth printing is recorded in the trade). Knopf's convention from the mid-1930s onward applies: the first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright…. US first: Alfred A. Knopf (New York, 1982). No original-language question arises — the book was written in English. The UK first is Michael Joseph (London, 1983; ISBN 0-7181-2270-4), which follows the Knopf and is collected as the British first, not the true first. Where both are collected, the Knopf 1982 is the edition of record and the Michael Joseph is the secondary English-market first. A book-club issue is recorded and is the standard trap: it is noticeably smaller in dimension and lighter in bulk than the Knopf trade printing and comes in a jacket without price at the flap. The other frequent trap is a Knopf-imprint copy dated 1983 on the title page — those are later trade printings of the same setting, not firsts, and the copyright-page printing notice will say so.

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