# Is "Death Instinct" by Bentley Little a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Death Instinct by Bentley Little (Signet, 1992) is identified by: Signet mass-market paperback original, 1992, first published under the Phillip Emmons pseudonym (ISBN 0-451-17284-1), with a number line on the copyright page. Paperback original issued under the Phillip Emmons pseudonym; this is the same book as the Phillip Emmons entry and should be deduplicated downstream.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Signet mass-market paperback original, 1992, first published under the Phillip Emmons pseudonym (ISBN 0-451-17284-1), with a number line on the copyright page
- Issued only in paperback with a single printing and no hardcover, so the 1992 Signet paperback is the original form of the book
- Publisher imprint reads Signet
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Bentley Little |
| Publisher | Signet |
| Year | 1992 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Signet mass-market paperback original, 1992, first published under the Phillip Emmons… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Signet mass-market paperback original, 1992, first published under the Phillip Emmons pseudonym (ISBN 0-451-17284-1), with a number line on the copyright page. Issued only in paperback with a single printing and no hardcover, so the 1992 Signet paperback is the original form of the book.

## Is this the true first?
Paperback original issued under the Phillip Emmons pseudonym; this is the same book as the Phillip Emmons entry and should be deduplicated downstream. The single 1992 Signet paperback printing is the true first. The UK edition, retitled Evil Deeds (1994), appeared under Little's real name and followed the US original.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
N/A (paperback original); no book-club issue exists.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Death Instinct* by Bentley Little a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/death-instinct
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.