Is My Norstrilia a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Paperback original in pictorial wrappers, Ballantine catalog number 24366, ISBN 0-345-24366-8, 277 pages, published February 1975 with cover art by Gray Morrow
• The first printing carries a stated first-printing line on the copyright page giving February 1975; there is no number line, so identification rests on that statement together with the 24366 catalog number and the price printed on the front wrapper
• Later Ballantine and Del Rey reprints are told apart by a changed catalog number and a changed wrapper price
• Because this is a paperback original, condition of the wrappers rather than any jacket is the relevant physical point

How Ballantine Books, New York marked a first edition

• Number line on copyright page; first printing has the '1' present. Modern PRH-era Ballantine uses the full descending line '9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' with no edition statement, OR with 'First Edition' stated.

Full Ballantine Books, New York 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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 paperback original is the true first of the complete novel as Smith wrote it, confirming the census claim. The novel had earlier been split by his publisher into two shorter volumes, each a Pyramid Books paperback original and each collected in its own right: The Planet Buyer (Pyramid Books, New York, 1964, R-1084, cover by John Schoenherr) and The Underpeople (Pyramid Books, New York, November 1968, X-1910, cover by Jack Gaughan). Those are separate abridged/split texts, not earlier editions of Norstrilia. The NESFA Press hardcover (Framingham, MA, 1994) is the first hardcover but a "first thus": it adds further revisions and corrections plus an appendix of variant texts, and that 1994 text — not the 1975 text — is what the 2008 Baen omnibus We, the Underpeople reprints.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club printing of the 1975 Ballantine paperback original is documented; mass-market paperback originals of this period were not club-issued. The practical reprint tell is a changed Ballantine/Del Rey catalog number and a changed price printed on the wrapper, since the copyright page of later printings drops or supersedes the February 1975 first-printing statement. The 1994 NESFA hardcover is a small-press edition, not a club book.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Norstrilia a first edition?

A first edition of Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith (Paul M. A. Linebarger) (Ballantine Books, New York) is identified by: Paperback original in pictorial wrappers, Ballantine catalog number 24366, ISBN 0-345-24366-8, 277 pages, published February 1975 with cover art by Gray Morrow.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). US paperback original is the true first of the complete novel as Smith wrote it, confirming the census claim.

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

No book-club printing of the 1975 Ballantine paperback original is documented; mass-market paperback originals of this period were not club-issued. The practical reprint tell is a changed Ballantine/Del Rey catalog number and a changed price printed on the wrapper, since the copyright page of later printings drops or supersedes the February 1975 first-printing statement. The 1994 NESFA hardcover is a small-press edition, not a club book.

I have a first edition of Norstrilia — 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.