# Is "The Citadel of the Autarch" by Gene Wolfe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe (Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster, 1983) is identified by: First printings carry the full number line beginning/ending in 1 on the copyright page ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); an ABAA description of a confirmed first states the point as a 'full number line beginning in 1', and there is no separate printing statement. The US Timescape/Simon & Schuster hardcover, New York, is the true first, published January 1983; the UK first is Sidgwick & Jackson, London, March 1983 (ISBN 0-283-98943-2).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printings carry the full number line beginning/ending in 1 on the copyright page ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); an ABAA description of a confirmed first states the point as a 'full number line beginning in 1', and there is no separate printing statement
- The binding is quarter black cloth with gold/golden paper over boards, roughly 5-the printed price x 8-the printed price inches, 317 pages plus the appendix, in a Don Maitz dust jacket with the price present at the front flap on an unclipped copy (ISBN 0-671-45251-7)
- Remainder-marked copies of the trade issue exist and a remainder mark does not by itself unseat a first printing
- Publisher imprint reads Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gene Wolfe |
| Publisher | Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster |
| Year | 1983 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printings carry the full number line beginning/ending in 1 on the copyright page ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); an ABAA description of a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printings carry the full number line beginning/ending in 1 on the copyright page ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); an ABAA description of a confirmed first states the point as a 'full number line beginning in 1', and there is no separate printing statement. The binding is quarter black cloth with gold/golden paper over boards, roughly 5-the printed price x 8-the printed price inches, 317 pages plus the appendix, in a Don Maitz dust jacket with the price present at the front flap on an unclipped copy (ISBN 0-671-45251-7). Remainder-marked copies of the trade issue exist and a remainder mark does not by itself unseat a first printing.

## Is this the true first?
The US Timescape/Simon & Schuster hardcover, New York, is the true first, published January 1983; the UK first is Sidgwick & Jackson, London, March 1983 (ISBN 0-283-98943-2). Both are collected; the US precedes by about two months, and Wikipedia's record likewise gives the country of first publication as the United States with the Timescape ISBN. The census claim of US precedence is confirmed; this volume completes The Book of the New Sun tetralogy.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No separate book-club printing of the individual Timescape volume was documented in the sources consulted. The 'first thus' traps are the omnibus collections — the Science Fiction Book Club one-volume Book of the New Sun (1998) and later two-volume gatherings — plus the Timescape/Pocket paperback, none of which are the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Citadel of the Autarch* by Gene Wolfe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-citadel-of-the-autarch
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.