# Is "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (Ace Books, 1983) is identified by: The first edition is the Ace mass-market paperback original (December 1983). The 1983 Ace paperback original is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition is the Ace mass-market paperback original (December 1983)
- It is a paperback original, so there is no contemporaneous hardcover
- The first hardcover was the Mark V. Ziesing edition issued years later, illustrated, with 500 signed/numbered copies
- Publisher imprint reads Ace Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tim Powers |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Year | 1983 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition is the Ace mass-market paperback original (December 1983) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first edition is the Ace mass-market paperback original (December 1983). It is a paperback original, so there is no contemporaneous hardcover. The first hardcover was the Mark V. Ziesing edition issued years later, illustrated, with 500 signed/numbered copies.

## Is this the true first?
The 1983 Ace paperback original is the true first. The Ziesing hardcover (issued 1989/1990) is the first hardcover, a later 'first thus,' not the first edition. World Fantasy Award winner; Philip K. Dick Award winner.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is the issue. The trap is the much later Ziesing hardcover being offered as 'the first' — it is the first hardcover but not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Anubis Gates* by Tim Powers a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-anubis-gates
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.