# Is "Born of Man and Woman" by Richard Matheson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Born of Man and Woman by Richard Matheson (The Chamberlain Press, Inc., Philadelphia, 1954) is identified by: Matheson's first book, collecting seventeen stories with an introduction by Robert Bloch; two stories ("Dear Diary" and "The Traveller") appear here for the first time. US first: The Chamberlain Press, Inc., Philadelphia, 1954 — the only hardcover printing and the true first of Matheson's first book.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Matheson's first book, collecting seventeen stories with an introduction by Robert Bloch; two stories ("Dear Diary" and "The Traveller") appear here for the first time
- Dealers describe the copyright page as carrying a first-edition statement, but the decisive point is structural: the Chamberlain Press printing is the only printing that exists
- L. W. Currey records that approximately 650 copies were distributed before a flood destroyed most of the unsold bound copies and a later warehouse fire destroyed the remaining unbound sheets — so a genuine Chamberlain Press copy is by definition a first
- Bound in red cloth, the spine titled in black and the front cover decorated in black
- 252 pages
- The pictorial dust jacket was designed by Mel Hunter and carries a printed price at the flap
- Publisher imprint reads The Chamberlain Press, Inc., Philadelphia

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard Matheson |
| Publisher | The Chamberlain Press, Inc., Philadelphia |
| Year | 1954 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Matheson's first book, collecting seventeen stories with an introduction by Robert Bloch; two stories ("Dear Diary" and "The Traveller")… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Matheson's first book, collecting seventeen stories with an introduction by Robert Bloch; two stories ("Dear Diary" and "The Traveller") appear here for the first time. Dealers describe the copyright page as carrying a first-edition statement, but the decisive point is structural: the Chamberlain Press printing is the only printing that exists. L. W. Currey records that approximately 650 copies were distributed before a flood destroyed most of the unsold bound copies and a later warehouse fire destroyed the remaining unbound sheets — so a genuine Chamberlain Press copy is by definition a first. Bound in red cloth, the spine titled in black and the front cover decorated in black; 252 pages. The pictorial dust jacket was designed by Mel Hunter and carries a printed price at the flap. Because the jacketed stock was largely destroyed, jackets are the scarce element and facsimile jackets are in circulation — check the jacket against a reference image before accepting it as original.

## Is this the true first?
US first: The Chamberlain Press, Inc., Philadelphia, 1954 — the only hardcover printing and the true first of Matheson's first book. Two abridged successors are routinely mis-sold as firsts. Bantam's US paperback of 1955, retitled Third from the Sun (Bantam number 1294), drops four stories. The first British edition — Max Reinhardt, London, 1956 — runs to 164 pages and drops the Robert Bloch introduction along with four stories; it is collected as the first UK edition but is an abridged text, not the complete book, and dealer descriptions of its binding conflict (black boards lettered silver in one, red boards lettered gilt in another), so binding alone should not be used to authenticate it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club printing is documented, and the destroyed print run left no stock for one. The reprint traps are the abridged Bantam Third from the Sun (1955) and the abridged Max Reinhardt (1956), plus modern collector reissues from Gauntlet Press, Subterranean Press and Suntup Editions, which reprint the 1954 text and are "first thus" only.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Born of Man and Woman* by Richard Matheson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/born-of-man-and-woman
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.