Is My Deus Irae a First Edition?

The points of issue

• "First Edition" stated on the copyright page with no additional printing statement — Doubleday's practice of the period, and the operative test
• Black boards lettered in red
• 182 pp.; jacket illustration by John Cayea; price present at the front flap on unclipped copies
• Doubleday's gutter code — a letter-and-number cipher printed in the gutter of a late leaf — is recorded by dealers as G27 at p
• 181, indicating an early-June 1976 printing
• Remainder spray to the bottom edge of the text block is common on this title and is not in itself evidence of a later printing

How Doubleday & Company marked a first edition

• Mid-1958–early 1959: numerical gutter code (1–52) on the last page of text indicating the WEEK of printing. Early 1959–1987: added a LETTER code before the week code indicating the YEAR.

Full Doubleday & Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US original: Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1976 — the first Dick/Zelazny collaboration, written from the manuscript titled "The Kneeling Legless Man". The census claim is correct. The first British edition is Victor Gollancz, London, 1977 (182 pp., ISBN 0575023074), a full year later; it is a true second but is collected as the UK first. A UK Science Fiction Book Club edition followed in 1978, and the DAW mass-market paperback (1983) is the first paperback edition — a "first thus", not a first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Doubleday's own clubs issued this title, and Doubleday book-club printings are the standard trap here because the clubs frequently left the "First Edition" line standing in the plates — the statement alone does not settle it. Check the board and jacket instead: a club copy has a small blind-stamped device (square, circle, dot or triangle) debossed at the lower rear board near the spine, no price at the jacket front flap (often a book-club code in a white box on the rear panel instead), and a noticeably lighter, thinner text block on cheaper paper.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Deus Irae a first edition?

A first edition of Deus Irae by Philip K. Dick & Roger Zelazny (Doubleday & Company) is identified by: "First Edition" stated on the copyright page with no additional printing statement — Doubleday's practice of the period, and the operative test.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US original: Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1976 — the first Dick/Zelazny collaboration, written from the manuscript titled "The Kneeling Legless Man".

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Doubleday's own clubs issued this title, and Doubleday book-club printings are the standard trap here because the clubs frequently left the "First Edition" line standing in the plates — the statement alone does not settle it. Check the board and jacket instead: a club copy has a small blind-stamped device (square, circle, dot or triangle) debossed at the lower rear board near the spine, no price at the jacket front flap (often a book-club code in a white box on the rear panel instead), and a not

I have a first edition of Deus Irae — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.