# Is "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" by Gene Wolfe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972) is identified by: The first printing is identified by the Scribner's house code "A-4.72 [c]" on the copyright page, denoting edition A (first), April 1972. The US Scribner's edition (New York, 1972) is the true first, confirming the census claim.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is identified by the Scribner's house code "A-4.72 [c]" on the copyright page, denoting edition A (first), April 1972
- The copyright page also carries "SBN 684-12830-6 (Trade cloth)"
- Binding is red paper over boards with gilt lettering to the spine; octavo
- The dust jacket design is by Nicholas Gaetano and the first-issue jacket is priced at the front flap
- Scribner's used this letter-plus-month.year system from 1930 until roughly 1973, when it was replaced by a descending number line — so on a 1972 Scribner's book the absence of the A-code, or the presence of a B or later letter, rules out the first printing
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gene Wolfe |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1972 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is identified by the Scribner's house code "A-4.72 [c]" on the copyright page, denoting edition A (first), April 1972 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing is identified by the Scribner's house code "A-4.72 [c]" on the copyright page, denoting edition A (first), April 1972. The copyright page also carries "SBN 684-12830-6 (Trade cloth)". Binding is red paper over boards with gilt lettering to the spine; octavo. The dust jacket design is by Nicholas Gaetano and the first-issue jacket is priced at the front flap. Scribner's used this letter-plus-month.year system from 1930 until roughly 1973, when it was replaced by a descending number line — so on a 1972 Scribner's book the absence of the A-code, or the presence of a B or later letter, rules out the first printing.

## Is this the true first?
The US Scribner's edition (New York, 1972) is the true first, confirming the census claim. The first UK edition followed from Victor Gollancz (London) in 1973, bound in publisher's red cloth with gilt spine lettering and issued in a priced jacket; it is collected as the first British edition but does not have precedence.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the Scribner's first is documented in the sources consulted; the reliable negative tell is simply the absence of "A-4.72 [c]". The main traps are later reprints and "first thus" issues rather than club copies: Quartet (UK paperback), Ace (1976 paperback), and the Orb/Tor trade paperback reissues, the last of which adds an introduction by Brian Evenson and is a different edition entirely.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Fifth Head of Cerberus* by Gene Wolfe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-fifth-head-of-cerberus
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.