# Is "The Elementals" by Michael McDowell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Elementals by Michael McDowell (Avon Books, New York, 1981) is identified by: A mass-market paperback original — there is no first hardcover, and the fragile Avon wrappers of September 1981 are the first and only original state. US precedence, uncontested: an American author writing for an American mass-market house, with no UK edition and no hardcover preceding the Avon paperback original of September 1981.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- A mass-market paperback original — there is no first hardcover, and the fragile Avon wrappers of September 1981 are the first and only original state
- ISBN 0-380-78360-6
- 302 pp. per the Open Library record; the Library of Congress Copyright Paperback Collection deposit copy (digitised by the Internet Archive) is dated 1981, Avon Books, New York
- Because it is a paperback original there is no dust jacket and no jacket point
- Identification of the first printing is by the copyright page: Avon's practice from the late 1970s onward was a 'First Avon Printing, [Month], [Year]' line together with a number line, so a first printing should read 'First Avon Printing, September, 1981' with 1 present as the lowest digit in the line, and a later printing carries a subsequent printing statement
- CAVEAT — verify this on the copy in hand: Avon copyright pages are notoriously sparse, Avon has no entry in the standard publisher-identification guides (Quill & Brush, ILAB), and the exact wording was not confirmed against a photographed copyright page of this specific title
- Publisher imprint reads Avon Books, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Michael McDowell |
| Publisher | Avon Books, New York |
| Year | 1981 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | A mass-market paperback original — there is no first hardcover, and the fragile Avon wrappers of September 1981 are the first and only… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
A mass-market paperback original — there is no first hardcover, and the fragile Avon wrappers of September 1981 are the first and only original state. ISBN 0-380-78360-6; 302 pp. per the Open Library record; the Library of Congress Copyright Paperback Collection deposit copy (digitised by the Internet Archive) is dated 1981, Avon Books, New York. Because it is a paperback original there is no dust jacket and no jacket point. Identification of the first printing is by the copyright page: Avon's practice from the late 1970s onward was a 'First Avon Printing, [Month], [Year]' line together with a number line, so a first printing should read 'First Avon Printing, September, 1981' with 1 present as the lowest digit in the line, and a later printing carries a subsequent printing statement. CAVEAT — verify this on the copy in hand: Avon copyright pages are notoriously sparse, Avon has no entry in the standard publisher-identification guides (Quill & Brush, ILAB), and the exact wording was not confirmed against a photographed copyright page of this specific title.

## Is this the true first?
US precedence, uncontested: an American author writing for an American mass-market house, with no UK edition and no hardcover preceding the Avon paperback original of September 1981. 'First thus' traps: the Valancourt Books trade paperback of 2014 (with a new introduction by Michael Rowe) and the Centipede Press limited hardcover of 2020 are the first hardcover and first modern trade appearances respectively — both are reprints. The Fontana/Collins paperback (ISBN 0-00-616640-7) and the 1995 HarperCollins edition are later reprints, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented for this title — mass-market paperback originals of this kind were not book-club vehicles. The states to watch are later Avon printings, which are distinguished by their copyright-page printing statement, and the modern revivals (Valancourt 2014 trade paperback, Centipede Press 2020 hardcover), which are 'first thus' and are the copies most often mistaken for a first by sellers because they are the only hardcover.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Elementals* by Michael McDowell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-elementals
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.