# Is "Fadeout" by Joseph Hansen a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Fadeout by Joseph Hansen (Harper & Row, 1970) is identified by: The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page and carries a complete number line. US Harper & Row, New York, 1970 is the true first — the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page and carries a complete number line
- The statement alone is not sufficient: Harper & Row is documented by the publisher guides as repeatedly failing to strip the "First Edition" statement from later printings, so the intact number line — not the statement — is the governing test, and where the two disagree the number line wins
- Placement of the number row is the trap for a 1970 Harper book: qbbooks records that from 1969 Harper & Row set the row at the foot of the last page, directly before the rear free endpaper, and only moved it to the copyright page by about 1975, while fedpo's entries for Harper titles of the early 1970s show number lines on the copyright page — check both locations before concluding
- The book was issued in the "A Harper Novel of Suspense" series, 187pp, bound in quarter red cloth with black spine lettering over brown paper boards, with deckled fore-edges; the jacket is designed by Peter Schaumann and should be unclipped with the price present at the flap
- Bibliographies: Young 1699
- Gunn p.154
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Row

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joseph Hansen |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page and carries a complete number line |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing states "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page and carries a complete number line. The statement alone is not sufficient: Harper & Row is documented by the publisher guides as repeatedly failing to strip the "First Edition" statement from later printings, so the intact number line — not the statement — is the governing test, and where the two disagree the number line wins. Placement of the number row is the trap for a 1970 Harper book: qbbooks records that from 1969 Harper & Row set the row at the foot of the last page, directly before the rear free endpaper, and only moved it to the copyright page by about 1975, while fedpo's entries for Harper titles of the early 1970s show number lines on the copyright page — check both locations before concluding. The book was issued in the "A Harper Novel of Suspense" series, 187pp, bound in quarter red cloth with black spine lettering over brown paper boards, with deckled fore-edges; the jacket is designed by Peter Schaumann and should be unclipped with the price present at the flap. Bibliographies: Young 1699; Gunn p.154.

## Is this the true first?
US Harper & Row, New York, 1970 is the true first — the census claim is confirmed. It is the first Dave Brandstetter novel and the first novel published under Hansen's own name (his earlier fiction appeared as by James Colton), and a landmark of the gay private-eye novel. The first UK edition followed two years later from Harrap, London, 1972 (ISBN 0245518584) and does not precede; it is collected as the first English edition only.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the 1970 Harper & Row first is documented. Later-issue traps are all "first thus" reprints rather than firsts: the Henry Holt paperback reissue (ISBN 0805010548), the University of Wisconsin Press edition (2004) and the Soho reissue (2022).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Fadeout* by Joseph Hansen a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/fadeout
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.