# Is "The Legion of Space" by Jack Williamson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Legion of Space by Jack Williamson (Fantasy Press, 1947) is identified by: First book edition: Fantasy Press, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1947 — Williamson's first book. US original and the true first book edition; the census claim is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First book edition: Fantasy Press, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1947 — Williamson's first book. "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page with no further printing noted
- L. W. Currey catalogues the trade issue as "First edition so stated on copyright page," and independent dealer descriptions record a "Stated First Edition," consistent with the Fantasy Press house practice documented by Quill & Brush
- As with other Fantasy Press titles the printing was divided into two issues: a limited issue of 500 copies, hand-numbered and signed by Williamson on an integral limitation leaf, and an unsigned trade issue lacking that leaf — both are the 1947 first edition
- Physical points corroborated across dealers: publisher's green cloth with the spine stamped in gilt, bright pink/fuchsia illustrated (decorated) endpapers, and jacket, frontispiece, interior plates and chapter-head letters by A. J. Donnell; the pictorial jacket should be priced at the flap
- The jacket's pink spine panel fades badly with light exposure, so an unfaded spine panel is the exception rather than the rule and a faded one is not evidence of a later issue
- Publisher imprint reads Fantasy Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jack Williamson |
| Publisher | Fantasy Press |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First book edition: Fantasy Press, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1947 — Williamson's first book. "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First book edition: Fantasy Press, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1947 — Williamson's first book. "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page with no further printing noted; L. W. Currey catalogues the trade issue as "First edition so stated on copyright page," and independent dealer descriptions record a "Stated First Edition," consistent with the Fantasy Press house practice documented by Quill & Brush. As with other Fantasy Press titles the printing was divided into two issues: a limited issue of 500 copies, hand-numbered and signed by Williamson on an integral limitation leaf, and an unsigned trade issue lacking that leaf — both are the 1947 first edition. Physical points corroborated across dealers: publisher's green cloth with the spine stamped in gilt, bright pink/fuchsia illustrated (decorated) endpapers, and jacket, frontispiece, interior plates and chapter-head letters by A. J. Donnell; the pictorial jacket should be priced at the flap. The jacket's pink spine panel fades badly with light exposure, so an unfaded spine panel is the exception rather than the rule and a faded one is not evidence of a later issue.

## Is this the true first?
US original and the true first book edition; the census claim is correct. It was preceded only by the magazine serial in Astounding Stories (1934), which the book text follows. There is no early competing British edition — the first British publication is a Sphere paperback in 1977, thirty years later — so no UK-vs-US precedence question arises. Williamson was a Portales, New Mexico author, and this was his first appearance between hard covers.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The most dangerous reprint tell for this title is the First Edition Library (Shelton, Connecticut) facsimile, a page-for-page reproduction of the 1947 Fantasy Press edition that reproduces the original copyright page — including its "First Edition" statement. FEL facsimiles were issued in an illustrated paper-covered slipcase/box and carry an FEL facsimile notice; the presence of the slipcase, or of any FEL identification, marks the copy as a modern facsimile rather than a 1947 Fantasy Press sheet. Separately, Quill & Brush notes Fantasy Press's "First Edition" statement was sometimes left standing on offset reprints bearing other publishers' imprints, so the imprint must always be read alongside the statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Legion of Space* by Jack Williamson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-legion-of-space
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.