# Is "Orphans of the Sky" by Robert A. Heinlein a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein (Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1963) is identified by: Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1963. The census claim is confirmed and is the correct call: Victor Gollancz (London) 1963 is the true first, preceding the US G.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1963
- Octavo, issued in red boards with lettering
- Gollancz house practice carries no explicit edition or printing statement, so a first is established by the 1963 title-page/copyright date with no later impression line, not by a stated point
- The jacket should be priced at the flap (price present, unclipped) — many surviving copies are price-clipped
- Note that the far more commonly encountered US Putnam issue is a different book physically (187 pp) and is not the first
- Publisher imprint reads Victor Gollancz Ltd
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Year | 1963 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1963 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1963. Octavo, issued in red boards with lettering; 160 pp. Gollancz house practice carries no explicit edition or printing statement, so a first is established by the 1963 title-page/copyright date with no later impression line, not by a stated point. The jacket should be priced at the flap (price present, unclipped) — many surviving copies are price-clipped. Note that the far more commonly encountered US Putnam issue is a different book physically (187 pp) and is not the first.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed and is the correct call: Victor Gollancz (London) 1963 is the true first, preceding the US G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York) 1964 edition. Currey states the point explicitly — "Preceded the 1964 Putnam edition" — and James Cummins Bookseller catalogues the Gollancz as "First edition, preceding the American." This is one of the few Heinlein titles where the UK edition holds precedence, and the Putnam 1964 is collected in its own right as the first US edition. Neither book is the first appearance of the text: the novel is assembled from two 1941 Astounding Science Fiction serials, "Universe" and "Common Sense."

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the Gollancz first in the sources consulted. American book-club printings derive from the later Putnam text and so are two removes from the true first; they were not documented in the sources consulted and no reliable blindstamp or jacket-code tell for this specific title could be confirmed.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Orphans of the Sky* by Robert A. Heinlein a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/orphans-of-the-sky
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.