# Is "Confessions of a Crap Artist" by Philip K. Dick a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K. Dick (Entwhistle Books, 1975) is identified by: Total edition of 1,000 copies, issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers. US small-press original, and the only mainstream (non-SF) novel Dick published in his lifetime; written c.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Total edition of 1,000 copies, issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers
- The 500 hardbound copies carry the statement "First edition: 500 copies, cloth bound" on the copyright page — that line is the operative test
- Of those 500, 90 were signed by Dick on the copyright page and numbered; the remaining 410 are the unsigned trade copies, bound in burgundy cloth lettered in gilt (Currey binding A), collating x, 171 pp
- Issued without a dust jacket, so no jacket points apply
- The 500 paperbound copies were published at the same time as the hardbound, with cover art by Richard Powers, and are collected as the first paperback issue rather than as a later printing
- Introduction by Paul Williams
- Publisher imprint reads Entwhistle Books

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Philip K. Dick |
| Publisher | Entwhistle Books |
| Year | 1975 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Total edition of 1,000 copies, issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Total edition of 1,000 copies, issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers. The 500 hardbound copies carry the statement "First edition: 500 copies, cloth bound" on the copyright page — that line is the operative test. Of those 500, 90 were signed by Dick on the copyright page and numbered; the remaining 410 are the unsigned trade copies, bound in burgundy cloth lettered in gilt (Currey binding A), collating x, 171 pp. Issued without a dust jacket, so no jacket points apply. The 500 paperbound copies were published at the same time as the hardbound, with cover art by Richard Powers, and are collected as the first paperback issue rather than as a later printing. Introduction by Paul Williams. Recorded at Currey (2002) p. 125; Levack 5a; Wintz & Hyde MS1.

## Is this the true first?
US small-press original, and the only mainstream (non-SF) novel Dick published in his lifetime; written c. 1959. There is no earlier or simultaneous edition in any territory and no original-language question. The first British publication is the Magnum Books paperback (London, 1979) — four years later and not a first edition. One live discrepancy: library cataloguing records the imprint place as Glen Ellen, California (Entwhistle's address; the 1978 Entwhistle printing is catalogued "Glen Ellen, CA : Entwhistle Books; Berkeley, CA : distributed by Bookpeople"), while L. W. Currey and several dealer catalogues give New York. Publisher and year are not in dispute; the census claim of Entwhistle Books 1975 stands.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented for this title. The reprint tell is Entwhistle's own 1978 printing (LCCN 78105009), with the same pagination; dealers report that later sheets were bound up without the "first edition" line, so a cloth copy lacking that copyright-page statement is not a first. All other appearances are plainly imprinted reprints: Magnum (London, 1979), Pocket Books (1982), Paladin (1989), Vintage (1992), Mariner (2012).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Confessions of a Crap Artist* by Philip K. Dick a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/confessions-of-a-crap-artist
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.