# Is "Rogue Moon" by Algis Budrys a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1960) is identified by: Fawcett Gold Medal, Greenwich, Connecticut — a paperback original, November 1960, Gold Medal stock number s1057, 176 pp, cover art by Richard M. The paperback original IS the first edition — the hardcover-first assumption fails outright here, exactly as the census states.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Fawcett Gold Medal, Greenwich, Connecticut — a paperback original, November 1960, Gold Medal stock number s1057, 176 pp, cover art by Richard M. Powers
- The first printing is identified by the s1057 stock number on the front cover and spine, the November 1960 dating, and the original cover price present and unaltered on the front wrapper
- No hardcover preceded it, and there is no earlier state to look for
- Copies bearing Gold Medal L1474 are a LATER Fawcett reprint, not the first printing — the L-prefix denotes a later Gold Medal series designation; at least one dealer currently offers an L1474 copy catalogued as 'First Edition PBO', which is an error and is the single most common misidentification of this title
- Publisher imprint reads Fawcett Gold Medal
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Algis Budrys |
| Publisher | Fawcett Gold Medal |
| Year | 1960 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Fawcett Gold Medal, Greenwich, Connecticut — a paperback original, November 1960, Gold Medal stock number s1057, 176 pp, cover art by… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Fawcett Gold Medal, Greenwich, Connecticut — a paperback original, November 1960, Gold Medal stock number s1057, 176 pp, cover art by Richard M. Powers. The first printing is identified by the s1057 stock number on the front cover and spine, the November 1960 dating, and the original cover price present and unaltered on the front wrapper. No hardcover preceded it, and there is no earlier state to look for. Copies bearing Gold Medal L1474 are a LATER Fawcett reprint, not the first printing — the L-prefix denotes a later Gold Medal series designation; at least one dealer currently offers an L1474 copy catalogued as 'First Edition PBO', which is an error and is the single most common misidentification of this title.

## Is this the true first?
The paperback original IS the first edition — the hardcover-first assumption fails outright here, exactly as the census states. L.W. Currey confirms the 1960 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback original as the true first edition. The first hardcover is Gregg Press, Boston, 1977, in The Gregg Press Science Fiction Series: text offset from the 1960 Fawcett edition, with new introductions by Budrys and Joseph Milicia, copyright page stating 'First Printing, June 1977'. Per Currey, the Gregg Press edition was issued in cloth WITHOUT a dust jacket — so a Gregg copy 'lacking its jacket' is complete as issued, and any jacket on one is foreign to it. The first UK hardcover is Victor Gollancz, London, 1978. Neither hardcover displaces the 1960 Gold Medal.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Gregg Press (1977) and Gollancz (1978) are hardcover reprints, not firsts, and are routinely miscatalogued as first editions because they are the earliest hardcovers. Budrys's own preferred title was The Death Machine, and the edition under that title (Unifont, Poughkeepsie, New York, 2001) is a later 'first thus', restoring his preferred title. A shorter version preceded the novel in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Reports that the 1960 Gold Medal text was itself cut by the publisher and later restored appear in circulation but were NOT confirmed in the sources consulted and should not be repeated as fact.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Rogue Moon* by Algis Budrys a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/rogue-moon
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.