# Is "The Cobweb" by Stephen Bury (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Cobweb by Stephen Bury (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George) (Bantam, 1996) is identified by: Trade paperback original in pictorial wrappers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury, Bantam, September 1996, 384 pages. The US Bantam trade paperback original (September 1996) is the true first, published under the Stephen Bury pseudonym (Neal Stephenson and his uncle J.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Trade paperback original in pictorial wrappers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury, Bantam, September 1996, 384 pages
- First printing states First Edition on the copyright page and carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
- Pictorial wrappers printed in red, white, and black, with the printed price on the rear wrapper (that price should be present and unaltered); the text includes a full-page black-and-white map
- Publisher imprint reads Bantam
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen Bury (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George) |
| Publisher | Bantam |
| Year | 1996 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Trade paperback original in pictorial wrappers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury, Bantam, September 1996, 384 pages |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Trade paperback original in pictorial wrappers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury, Bantam, September 1996, 384 pages. First printing states First Edition on the copyright page and carries the full number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Pictorial wrappers printed in red, white, and black, with the printed price on the rear wrapper (that price should be present and unaltered); the text includes a full-page black-and-white map.

## Is this the true first?
The US Bantam trade paperback original (September 1996) is the true first, published under the Stephen Bury pseudonym (Neal Stephenson and his uncle J. Frederick George); there is no earlier hardcover.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition. Later reissues crediting the real names, or lacking the First Edition statement and the complete 10-through-1 number line, are not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Cobweb* by Stephen Bury (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-cobweb
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.