# Is "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Stardust by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess (DC Comics / Vertigo, 1997) is identified by: True first appearance was the four-issue prestige-format illustrated mini-series from DC/Vertigo (issues released 1997 into 1998), with prose and Vess illustration throughout; this was then gathered as the illustrated single-volume hardcover 'Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realm of Faerie' in 1998 (DC/Vertigo, with a trade paperback also issued). The 1997-98 DC/Vertigo illustrated edition is the true first; the 1998 collected illustrated hardcover is the first single-volume book form.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first appearance was the four-issue prestige-format illustrated mini-series from DC/Vertigo (issues released 1997 into 1998), with prose and Vess illustration throughout; this was then gathered as the illustrated single-volume hardcover 'Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realm of Faerie' in 1998 (DC/Vertigo, with a trade paperback also issued)
- Publisher imprint reads DC Comics / Vertigo
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess |
| Publisher | DC Comics / Vertigo |
| Year | 1997 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first appearance was the four-issue prestige-format illustrated mini-series from DC/Vertigo (issues released 1997 into 1998), with… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first appearance was the four-issue prestige-format illustrated mini-series from DC/Vertigo (issues released 1997 into 1998), with prose and Vess illustration throughout; this was then gathered as the illustrated single-volume hardcover 'Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realm of Faerie' in 1998 (DC/Vertigo, with a trade paperback also issued).

## Is this the true first?
The 1997-98 DC/Vertigo illustrated edition is the true first; the 1998 collected illustrated hardcover is the first single-volume book form. The 1999 Avon unillustrated prose novel is 'first thus' (first text-only edition), not the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is the issue; the trap is treating the common 1999 Avon prose novel as the first. The illustrated 1997-98 mini-series and the 1998 collected hardcover both precede it.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Stardust* by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/stardust
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.