# Is "Earthlight" by Arthur C. Clarke a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke (Ballantine Books, 1955) is identified by: US Ballantine Books first edition, 1955, issued simultaneously in cloth hardcover and in paperback wrappers (Ballantine Books number 97), with dust jacket and paperback cover art by Richard Powers. The US Ballantine and the UK Frederick Muller editions both appeared in 1955 and are generally treated as simultaneous first editions; a clear precedence of one over the other is not established, so the original claim that Ballantine preceded Muller should be softened.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US Ballantine Books first edition, 1955, issued simultaneously in cloth hardcover and in paperback wrappers (Ballantine Books number 97), with dust jacket and paperback cover art by Richard Powers
- The cloth hardcover is the scarcer of the two formats and is among the harder Clarke first editions to find in cloth; a first-state jacket carries the printed price and should be unclipped
- Publisher imprint reads Ballantine Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Year | 1955 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US Ballantine Books first edition, 1955, issued simultaneously in cloth hardcover and in paperback wrappers (Ballantine Books number 97)… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
US Ballantine Books first edition, 1955, issued simultaneously in cloth hardcover and in paperback wrappers (Ballantine Books number 97), with dust jacket and paperback cover art by Richard Powers. The cloth hardcover is the scarcer of the two formats and is among the harder Clarke first editions to find in cloth; a first-state jacket carries the printed price and should be unclipped.

## Is this the true first?
The US Ballantine and the UK Frederick Muller editions both appeared in 1955 and are generally treated as simultaneous first editions; a clear precedence of one over the other is not established, so the original claim that Ballantine preceded Muller should be softened.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition for the true first. Later printings are noted on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Earthlight* by Arthur C. Clarke a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/earthlight
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.