Samuel R. Delany First Editions

• The Jewels of Aptor — 1962 · Ace BooksAce Books paperback original, Ace Double F-173 (1962), tete-beche with James White's 'Second Ending'; Delany's debut novel, written when he was nineteen. This first-edition text is abridged, shortened by roughly fifteen pages for the Ace Double format; the complete text was not restored until later editions. US Ace Double F-173 (1962) is the true first. The revised and enlarged (complete) text first appeared in the 1968 Ace solo edition (G-706); the 1968 Gollancz UK edition, following that restored text, is the first hardcover. None; the 1968 Ace solo printing is the unabridged first-thus.
• The Ballad of Beta-2 — 1965 · Ace BooksAce Double M-121, 1965; a paperback original in pictorial wrappers, bound tete-beche (dos-a-dos) with Emil Petaja's 'Alpha Yes, Terra No!', with the M-121 catalog number on the cover. Delany's text runs 96 pages. US Ace Double M-121 (1965) is the true first. The first standalone edition did not appear until 1971, and a hardcover edition came only much later; the Ace Double wrappered original precedes all of these. None.
• Babel-17 — 1966 · Ace Books, New YorkThe first edition is the Ace paperback original, catalogue code F-388, 1966, a co-winner of the Nebula Award for best novel. The first printing carries the statement 'first book publication' on the front cover and the original cover printed price. Paperback original with no preceding hardcover. The true first is the Ace F-388 paperback original; there was no earlier hardcover. The later Gregg Press library hardcover is a first-hardcover issue, not the priority edition. Identify by the Ace 'F-388' code, the 'first book publication' cover line, and the printed price cover price. Later printings of the Ace edition replace that line with a 'Nebula Award Winner' blazon and raise the cover price to the printed price.
• Empire Star — 1966 · Ace BooksAce Double M-139 (February 1966), a paperback original bound dos-a-dos with Tom Purdom's 'The Tree Lord of Imeten'. First-state points: the M-139 catalog number and the stated cover price appear on the wrappers; the Empire Star cover art is by Jack Gaughan and the reverse Tree Lord of Imeten cover is by John Schoenherr. As an Ace Double there is no dust jacket and no number line; the M-139 designation itself…. US Ace Double M-139 (February 1966) is the true first; the novella had no prior separate publication. Delany originally hoped to pair Empire Star with Babel-17, but it was issued back-to-back with Purdom's novel instead. No book-club edition of the Ace Double; later separate reprintings of Empire Star are clearly distinguished by their own imprints and lack the M-139 dos-a-dos format.
• The Einstein Intersection — 1967 · Ace BooksAce mass-market paperback original, Ace number F-427, pictorial wraps, cover and interior art by Jack Gaughan, original the printed price cover price. Paperback original with no preceding hardcover. The catalog number F-427 printed on the cover and spine identifies the issue. True first is the Ace paperback original of 1967 (F-427). The Victor Gollancz UK hardcover of 1968 is later and notably restores a chapter that the Ace text omits, but the Ace paperback remains the true first edition. Won the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novel, tied with Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon. No paperback book-club edition. Later Ace printings carry a changed cover price and a different catalog number.
• Nova — 1968 · Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NYFirst printing has 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with no book-club gutter code. Quarter pink and black cloth with gilt spine lettering; price on the front jacket flap in the Russell FitzGerald illustrated wrapper. One of Delany's few first-appearance hardcovers. The US Doubleday hardcover is the true first, preceding the UK Gollancz issue and all paperbacks. The 'First Edition' statement with no gutter code denotes the trade first. The Doubleday book-club issue carries the blindstamped gutter code on the rear board and an unpriced 'Book Club Edition' jacket on thinner boards. Note a textual point: the trade first omits roughly a page of text late in the book, which the later club issue restored.
• The Fall of the Towers (omnibus) — 1970 · Ace BooksFirst combined edition, Ace paperback (catalog number 22640), 1970, in pictorial wrappers with cover art by Frank Kelly Freas. This omnibus gathers the trilogy in texts revised by Delany specifically for this printing, and it prints the three parts as 'Out of the Dead City,' 'The Towers of Toron,' and 'City of a Thousand Suns'; Delany appends a closing note describing the extent of the rewriting. First printing…. The Ace omnibus of 1970 is the first combined and revised edition. The individual original texts have their true firsts in the earlier Ace volumes: 'Captives of the Flame' (1963; substantially rewritten and reissued as 'Out of the Dead City' in 1968), 'The Towers of Toron' (1964), and 'City of a Thousand Suns' (1965). As a paperback original there is no book-club edition to distinguish; separate the 1970 first combined printing from later Ace and imported UK reprints by the copyright page and catalog number.
• Driftglass — 1971 · Signet / New American LibraryFirst story collection; Signet mass-market paperback original, catalog number Q4384, published November 1971, cover art by Bob Pepper. No preceding hardcover. US Signet paperback original (1971) is the true first; later hardcover printings are reprints. None; as a paperback original there is no book-club first to confuse.
• The Tides of Lust (later 'Equinox') — 1973 · Lancer BooksLancer Books mass-market paperback original (Delany's first explicitly sexual novel). No hardcover or earlier printing precedes it, so the paperback is the true first. Genuinely scarce: Lancer collapsed at about the time of publication, so distribution was limited and few copies survive. US Lancer paperback original (1973) is the true first. A UK edition followed from Savoy Books in 1980 — most of that Savoy printing was seized and destroyed by authorities (the affair contributed to legal trouble for Savoy's David Britton), making it separately scarce but still later than Lancer. The book was subsequently reissued under Delany's preferred title 'Equinox' by Masquerade Books in 1994. None; as a paperback original there is no book-club issue. Distinguish the 1973 Lancer PBO from the later Savoy (1980) and Masquerade/'Equinox' (1994) reissues.
• Dhalgren — 1975 · Bantam Books, New YorkThe first edition is a Bantam mass-market paperback original (catalog code Q8554), with 'Bantam edition / January 1975' on the copyright page and a full number line ending in '1.' No hardcover preceded it. The true first is the paperback original; there was no prior US or UK hardcover. The later Gregg Press (1977) library hardcover is the first hardcover but not the true first, which the Bantam PBO precedes. The imprint reads January 1975, though copies reached shelves in December 1974. Not a book-club title in its first form. Distinguish the true first from the Gregg Press hardcover and from later Bantam printings whose number lines no longer end in '1.'.
• Triton — 1976 · Bantam BooksBantam mass-market paperback original, catalog number Y2567 on the cover, published February 1976; first printing stated on the copyright page. Pictorial wrappers with cover art by Mitchell Hooks. First-printing tell: the title on the 1976 issue is printed in a metallic ink, which the later 1979 reprint drops. US Bantam paperback original (1976) is the true first; reissued as 'Trouble on Triton' by Wesleyan University Press in 1996. None. The 1979 Bantam reprint is distinguished from the 1976 first by the loss of the metallic-ink title on the wrapper.
• The Jewel-Hinged Jaw — 1977 · Dragon PressEssay collection on science fiction criticism. First edition in cloth, issued without dust jacket. Published in a small trade issue plus a signed limited issue of 110 numbered copies (and a handful of lettered copies) signed by Delany; title-page vignette by Richard Powers. US Dragon Press edition (1977) is the true first. A Berkley Windhover paperback followed in 1978; a revised edition appeared from Wesleyan University Press in 2009. None.
• Empire: A Visual Novel — 1978 · Berkley Windhover / Berkley-PutnamEarly American graphic novel, large format, full-color art by Howard Chaykin. Issued in October 1978 simultaneously in three forms: a Berkley Windhover trade paperback, a Berkley/Putnam hardcover, and a signed limited hardcover. First printings state First Berkley Windhover Edition (or the corresponding Putnam first-edition statement on the hardcover). US 1978 publication is the true first; the trade paperback and hardcover appeared simultaneously, so neither has clear precedence. The signed limited hardcover is the collected issue. None.
• The American Shore — 1978 · Dragon PressBook-length critical study of Thomas M. Disch's story Angouleme (from the sequence 334). First edition, Dragon Press 1978, an octavo bound in cloth and issued without a dust jacket; collating roughly pp. [1-10] i-v [vi] 1-243 with terminal blanks. The edition comprises 949 trade copies plus 100 copies numbered and signed by Delany; the signed copies are otherwise identical in binding to the trade issue. US Dragon Press edition (1978) is the true first. Reissued by Wesleyan University Press in 2014 with a new introduction by Matthew Cheney; that later trade edition is not the first. None.
• Tales of Neveryon — 1979 · Bantam BooksBantam mass-market paperback original, catalog number 12333 on the cover; copyright page states Bantam edition January 1979 with no later printings noted. Cover art by Louis S. Glanzman. First volume of the Return to Neveryon series. US Bantam paperback original (1979) is the true first; there is no earlier hardcover. None.
• Neveryona — 1983 · Bantam BooksBantam trade paperback original (larger format, pictorial wrappers), not a mass-market paperback. Copyright page states first Bantam printing with no later printings noted. Cover art by Rowena Morrill. Second volume of the Return to Neveryon series; full title Neveryona, or: The Tale of Signs and Cities. US Bantam trade paperback original (1983) is the true first; publication was postponed from late 1982 to spring 1983. None.
• Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand — 1984 · Bantam BooksBantam hardcover, cloth-backed boards; copyright page states 'A Bantam Book / December 1984' with a full number line ending in 1; priced dust jacket. The Bantam Spectra mass-market paperback followed in 1985, not simultaneously. US Bantam hardcover (December 1984) is the true first. Copies lacking a priced jacket or the full number line should be treated as book club or later printings.
• Flight from Neveryon — 1985 · Bantam BooksBantam mass-market paperback original, catalog number 24856 on the cover; copyright page states Bantam edition May 1985 with no later printings noted. Wraparound cover art by Rowena Morrill. Third volume of the Return to Neveryon series. US Bantam paperback original (1985) is the true first; Wesleyan University Press reprinted the series in trade paperback in the 1990s. None.
• The Bridge of Lost Desire (later 'Return to Neveryon') — 1987 · Arbor HouseArbor House hardcover; green cloth over blue paper-covered boards, spine stamped in gilt; priced dust jacket with Ned Dameron art; copyright page must not indicate a later printing. Fourth and concluding Neveryon volume; later reissued under the title Return to Neveryon. US Arbor House hardcover (1987) is the true first. None notable.
• The Motion of Light in Water — 1988 · Arbor House / William MorrowMemoir (subtitled 'Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, 1957-1965'), roughly 302 pages. Arbor House hardcover in blue cloth, issued in a priced dust jacket whose front flap carries the printed price; jacket art by Jack Gaughan. The copyright page carries a full descending number line ending in 1 to identify the first printing. ISBN 0-87795-947-1. Not a paperback original. US Arbor House hardcover (1988) is the true first; a substantially expanded edition followed in 1990. This original edition won the Hugo Award for nonfiction. None documented; the usual later-printing tell is a number line that no longer descends to 1.
• The Mad Man — 1994 · Richard Kasak Books / MasqueradeRichard Kasak Books hardcover in dust jacket, octavo, 501 pages, bound in partial cloth-covered boards with a white spine lettered in black; copyright page states "First Edition; First Printing." A trade paperback was issued around the same time as the hardcover, and the first-issue jacket carries the original printed price on the flap. Revised editions followed in 1996 and 2002. US Richard Kasak hardcover (1994) is the true first; collectors prefer the hardcover over the simultaneous paperback. None documented.
• Atlantis: Three Tales — 1995 · IncunabulaThe true first is the Incunabula limited edition, edited by Ron Drummond and designed by John D. Berry; it alone contains the 'Microflorilegium,' a section of excerpts from the author's correspondence. The Wesleyan University Press trade edition (hardcover and paperback, also 1995, produced by Incunabula) followed and lacks that section. The Incunabula (Seattle) limited edition (1995) precedes the Wesleyan University Press trade edition; the Wesleyan hardcover is the first trade edition, not the true first. None documented.
• Hogg — 1995 · Black Ice Books / FC2Black Ice Books/FC2 hardcover, first printing per copyright page; a small first printing of roughly five hundred copies. Written in 1969 and long unpublished. The first trade paperback followed from Black Ice in 1996. US Black Ice/FC2 hardcover (1995) is the true first publication; the 1996 trade paperback is a reissue. None documented.
• Dark Reflections — 2007 · Carroll & GrafCarroll & Graf trade paperback original, published 23 March 2007 (ISBN 0786719478 / 9780786719471), first printing per the number line ending in 1. Issued only in wrappers with the printed cover price present; no hardcover state exists to precede it. The US Carroll & Graf paperback original (2007) is the true first; there is no simultaneous or preceding hardcover. The book won the Stonewall Book Award and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. None; issued only as a trade paperback original. Later printings would drop the 1 from the number line.
• Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders — 2012 · Magnus BooksMagnus Books (New York) trade paperback original, first printing per the copyright page. The novel runs to roughly 800 pages in a single stout perfect-bound volume; ISBN 978-1-936833-14-6. As a paperback original there is no dust jacket, so identification rests on the Magnus Books imprint and the first-printing statement on the copyright page. The Magnus Books 2012 trade paperback is the true first: it is the first edition actually printed and distributed. An earlier Alyson Books issue (ISBN 978-1-59350-203-4) was announced and assigned a 2011 date in bibliographic databases, but Alyson had ceased its print program before releasing it, so no Alyson copies were published. Beware the phantom Alyson Books record dated 2011 that appears in library and trade databases; it represents an announced-but-unpublished edition, not an earlier physical printing. The Magnus Books first printing remains the earliest obtainable form.

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