# Is "The Shrinking Man" by Richard Matheson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (Gold Medal Books, 1956) is identified by: CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The true first is the US Gold Medal paperback original (s577, May 1956).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The paperback-original claim holds: the true first is the Gold Medal (Fawcett) paperback original, catalogue number s577, first printing May 1956, with the copyright page stating "First Printing, May 1956" — this dating is independently corroborated by the ISFDB title record (1956-05)
- 192 pp., cover art by Mitchell Hooks showing the shrunken man confronting a spider with a pin
- Gold Medal reissued the title under different catalogue numbers with later-printing statements, so number s577 together with the May 1956 first-printing line is the point
- The census claim that the first hardcover anywhere is a UK Frederick Muller edition of 1958 is REFUTED: no Frederick Muller edition of this title is recorded in any source consulted
- The first hardcover edition anywhere is David Bruce & Watson, London, 1973, with an introduction by Kingsley Amis — so catalogued by two independent specialist dealers who both cite the standard reference bibliographies (Anatomy of Wonder
- Barron, Horror Literature 4-219
- Publisher imprint reads Gold Medal Books

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard Matheson |
| Publisher | Gold Medal Books |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The paperback-original claim holds: the true first is the Gold Medal (Fawcett) paperback original, catalogue number… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The paperback-original claim holds: the true first is the Gold Medal (Fawcett) paperback original, catalogue number s577, first printing May 1956, with the copyright page stating "First Printing, May 1956" — this dating is independently corroborated by the ISFDB title record (1956-05). 192 pp., cover art by Mitchell Hooks showing the shrunken man confronting a spider with a pin. Gold Medal reissued the title under different catalogue numbers with later-printing statements, so number s577 together with the May 1956 first-printing line is the point. The census claim that the first hardcover anywhere is a UK Frederick Muller edition of 1958 is REFUTED: no Frederick Muller edition of this title is recorded in any source consulted. The first hardcover edition anywhere is David Bruce & Watson, London, 1973, with an introduction by Kingsley Amis — so catalogued by two independent specialist dealers who both cite the standard reference bibliographies (Anatomy of Wonder; Barron, Horror Literature 4-219; Pringle, Modern Fantasy 18), and Open Library's edition list contains David Bruce and Watson but no Muller.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the US Gold Medal paperback original (s577, May 1956). A separate British Gold Medal (Fawcett Publications) issue was also published in London in 1956, with its printed price — a distinct UK first printing that is collected in its own right. The first hardcover anywhere is David Bruce & Watson, London, 1973 (Kingsley Amis introduction), not a 1958 Muller hardcover as the census claimed. Later paperbacks retitled The Incredible Shrinking Man to match the 1957 Jack Arnold film are reprints under a changed title, not the first — a "first thus" trap.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue applies to a paperback original. Reprint tells: a Gold Medal catalogue number other than s577, or a copyright page giving a printing later than "First Printing, May 1956"; any hardcover predating 1973 should be treated as unrecorded and investigated rather than assumed.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Shrinking Man* by Richard Matheson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-shrinking-man
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.