Skip to main content

First-Edition Identification · Fritz Leiber

Is My The Big Time a First Edition?

Ace Books, 1961

The points of issue

Ace Double D-491, bound dos-a-dos (tete-beche) with Leiber's 'The Mind Spider and Other Stories'; thirty-five-cent cover price printed on the cover; Ed Emshwiller cover art. The first Ace printing carries the D-491 catalog code and bears no statement of a later printing.

Decode the printer’s key: paste the number line into the decoder.

Is this the true first?

The 1961 Ace Double paperback is the true first book edition (the text was first serialized in Galaxy, March-April 1958). The first hardcover was Gregg Press in 1976 (first thus). The UK Penguin edition (1965) is later.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

There was no book-club edition. Later forms such as the single (non-Double) Ace G-627 and the Collier/Macmillan trade paperbacks are first-thus reprints, not the original Ace Double D-491.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Big Time a first edition?

Look for these first-edition points: Ace Double D-491, bound dos-a-dos (tete-beche) with Leiber's 'The Mind Spider and Other Stories'; thirty-five-cent cover price printed on the cover; Ed Emshwiller cover art. The first Ace printing carries the D-491 catalog code and bears no statement of a later printing.

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

Check the copyright page for the publisher's first-printing convention and confirm the points above. The 1961 Ace Double paperback is the true first book edition (the text was first serialized in Galaxy, March-April 1958). The first hardcover was Gregg Press in 1976 (first thus). The UK Penguin edition (1965) is later.

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

There was no book-club edition. Later forms such as the single (non-Double) Ace G-627 and the Collier/Macmillan trade paperbacks are first-thus reprints, not the original Ace Double D-491.

I have a first edition of The Big Time — what should I do?

If you're clearing books, New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup in Albuquerque, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies aren't lost. To sell, see the author's collecting guide. Either way, nothing valuable ends up in a landfill.

Keep identifying