2 Paul J. McAuley first editions are documented on this shelf, from Four Hundred Billion Stars (1988) to Fairyland (1995) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Paul J. McAuley 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 Paul J. McAuley copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Four Hundred Billion Stars — 1988 · Del Rey / BallantineUS Del Rey (Ballantine) mass-market paperback original, first printing dated April 1988 (published April 12, 1988) and identified by a complete number line on the copyright page. This is McAuley's debut novel and the true first edition. The wraparound cover carries the Del Rey imprint; the first printing bears the April 1988 dating with no statement of a later printing. The US Del Rey paperback original was published April 12, 1988, ahead of the UK Victor Gollancz hardcover that appeared later the same year. Dealer cataloguing (L.W. Currey, John W. Knott) describes the Gollancz as the first British and first hardcover edition, which confirms the Del Rey paperback original holds precedence as the true first. It was a co-winner (a tie with Rudy Rucker's Wetware) of the 1989 Philip…. The UK Gollancz hardcover of 1988 is a distinct, separately collectible state and the first hardcover, but it follows the US Del Rey paperback. Later reissues are reprints.
Fairyland — 1995 · Victor GollanczUK Gollancz hardcover, London 1995 (ISBN 0575060700), the first printing carrying the full Gollancz number line on the copyright page; pictorial dust jacket with cover art by Steve Crisp, which should retain its printed flap price and be neither price-clipped nor remaindered. Copies to avoid for a true first are the simultaneous Gollancz trade-paperback issue and any ex-library example. The UK Gollancz 1995 hardcover is the true first; it precedes the US Avon/Eos edition (US mass-market appeared in 1997). Won the 1996 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel. It was shortlisted for, but did not win, the BSFA Award for Best Novel. The US Avon edition is the first US, not the true first; later reissues are reprints.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Pearl S. Buck, Penelope Fitzgerald, Peter Ackroyd, Peter F. Hamilton, Peter Matthiessen, Peter Taylor.

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