# Is "The Summoning" by Bentley Little a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Summoning by Bentley Little (Zebra, 1993) is identified by: Zebra (Kensington) mass-market paperback original, 1993, in printed wrappers with a full number line on the copyright page. A UK Headline hardcover also appeared in 1993; precedence between the US Zebra paperback and the UK Headline hardcover is not firmly established, so the US paperback should be described as the first US edition rather than the unqualified true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Zebra (Kensington) mass-market paperback original, 1993, in printed wrappers with a full number line on the copyright page
- First US edition
- Publisher imprint reads Zebra
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Bentley Little |
| Publisher | Zebra |
| Year | 1993 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Zebra (Kensington) mass-market paperback original, 1993, in printed wrappers with a full… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Zebra (Kensington) mass-market paperback original, 1993, in printed wrappers with a full number line on the copyright page. First US edition.

## Is this the true first?
A UK Headline hardcover also appeared in 1993; precedence between the US Zebra paperback and the UK Headline hardcover is not firmly established, so the US paperback should be described as the first US edition rather than the unqualified true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A 1993 hardcover book-club edition, issued as a Signet horror book-club printing, also exists; it is a later book-club printing (with the usual book-club binding tells), not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Summoning* by Bentley Little a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-summoning
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.