# Is "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982) is identified by: The census year is wrong and is corrected here: the true first is Knopf, New York, 1982 — not 1983. US first: Alfred A.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The census year is wrong and is corrected here: the true first is Knopf, New York, 1982 — not 1983
- The title page and copyright are 1982, the Library of Congress control number is 82-47810, and Knopf-imprint copies dated 1983 are later printings (a Knopf 1983 fourth printing is recorded in the trade)
- Knopf's convention from the mid-1930s onward applies: the first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page and notes no later printing; if any later printing is noted, the copy is not a first
- Binding is black quarter cloth over grey paper boards, the spine and front board blocked in copper foil; collation runs xi, 876 pp (some dealers give xi[i], 876, [iv]); the fore-edge is deckled
- ISBN 0-394-52406-3
- Jacket art is by Braldt Bralds; priced jacket / price present at the flap on an unclipped example
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Marion Zimmer Bradley |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year | 1982 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The census year is wrong and is corrected here: the true first is Knopf, New York, 1982 — not 1983 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The census year is wrong and is corrected here: the true first is Knopf, New York, 1982 — not 1983. The title page and copyright are 1982, the Library of Congress control number is 82-47810, and Knopf-imprint copies dated 1983 are later printings (a Knopf 1983 fourth printing is recorded in the trade). Knopf's convention from the mid-1930s onward applies: the first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page and notes no later printing; if any later printing is noted, the copy is not a first. Binding is black quarter cloth over grey paper boards, the spine and front board blocked in copper foil; collation runs xi, 876 pp (some dealers give xi[i], 876, [iv]); the fore-edge is deckled; ISBN 0-394-52406-3. Jacket art is by Braldt Bralds; priced jacket / price present at the flap on an unclipped example.

## Is this the true first?
US first: Alfred A. Knopf (New York, 1982). No original-language question arises — the book was written in English. The UK first is Michael Joseph (London, 1983; ISBN 0-7181-2270-4), which follows the Knopf and is collected as the British first, not the true first. Where both are collected, the Knopf 1982 is the edition of record and the Michael Joseph is the secondary English-market first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club issue is recorded and is the standard trap: it is noticeably smaller in dimension and lighter in bulk than the Knopf trade printing and comes in a jacket without price at the flap. The other frequent trap is a Knopf-imprint copy dated 1983 on the title page — those are later trade printings of the same setting, not firsts, and the copyright-page printing notice will say so.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Mists of Avalon* by Marion Zimmer Bradley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-mists-of-avalon
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.