# Is "The Kraken Wakes" by John Wyndham a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham (Michael Joseph, 1953) is identified by: First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, July 1953, hardback in dustwrapper with the publisher's price present at the inside flap. Census claim CONFIRMED.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, July 1953, hardback in dustwrapper with the publisher's price present at the inside flap
- Michael Joseph first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and carry no additional impression line; any added impression statement rules out the first, and there is no number line on this publisher's books of the period
- Cloth colour and jacket artist were not corroborated across two sources for this title and are therefore not asserted here
- The first US edition — Out of the Deeps, Ballantine Books, New York, 1953 — is described by L.W. Currey as octavo, boards, and was also issued in Ballantine's simultaneous paperback format with cover art by Richard M. Powers; it is textually cut and is not a substitute for the UK first
- Publisher imprint reads Michael Joseph
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Wyndham |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph |
| Year | 1953 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, July 1953, hardback in dustwrapper with the publisher's price present at the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, July 1953, hardback in dustwrapper with the publisher's price present at the inside flap. Michael Joseph first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and carry no additional impression line; any added impression statement rules out the first, and there is no number line on this publisher's books of the period. Cloth colour and jacket artist were not corroborated across two sources for this title and are therefore not asserted here. The first US edition — Out of the Deeps, Ballantine Books, New York, 1953 — is described by L.W. Currey as octavo, boards, and was also issued in Ballantine's simultaneous paperback format with cover art by Richard M. Powers; it is textually cut and is not a substitute for the UK first.

## Is this the true first?
Census claim CONFIRMED. Michael Joseph, London, 1953 is the true first. L.W. Currey (ABAA/ILAB) catalogues Out of the Deeps (Ballantine, New York, 1953) as the "First U.S. edition" and notes it was "Issued earlier in Britain with textual differences as THE KRAKEN WAKES (1953)." The Science Fiction Encyclopedia bibliography lists The Kraken Wakes (London: Michael Joseph, 1953) first, with Out of the Deeps (New York: Ballantine Books, 1953) marked "[cut vt of the above]". Both editions are collected and both should be named: The Kraken Wakes is the true first and the complete text; Out of the Deeps is the first American edition and is abridged — documented cuts include most of a chapter on how the Watsons acquired the yacht Midge, passages on Mike Watson's mental state, and a substantially different, bleaker epilogue. Same-year publication under a different title makes this a live alternate-title trap in both directions.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1953 Michael Joseph printing in the sources consulted. The reprint tell for the UK edition is an added impression statement on the copyright page. For the Ballantine issue, the boards and paperback formats are simultaneous rather than sequential; the paperback carries the Ballantine series number.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Kraken Wakes* by John Wyndham a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-kraken-wakes
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.