# Is "The Sword of the Lictor" by Gene Wolfe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe (Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster, 1982) is identified by: First printings are identified by a complete number line descending to 1 ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1') on the copyright page; the presence of the 1 is the point, and there is no separate printing statement to rely on. The US Timescape/Simon & Schuster hardcover, New York, is the true first, published January 1982; the UK first is Sidgwick & Jackson, London, May 1982 (ISBN 0-283-98860-6), in a wraparound jacket by Bruce Pennington.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printings are identified by a complete number line descending to 1 ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1') on the copyright page; the presence of the 1 is the point, and there is no separate printing statement to rely on
- The publisher's binding is quarter maroon/red cloth over blue paper-covered boards, in the Don Maitz illustrated dust jacket, with the price present at the front flap on an unclipped example (ISBN 0-671-43595-7)
- Note a real catalogue trap: a number of records date the Timescape hardcover 1981 rather than 1982 under the same ISBN — treat the number line, not the catalogue date, as the printing evidence
- Descriptions of the spine lettering differ (silver in most, black in a minority), so lettering colour should not be used as a decisive point
- Publisher imprint reads Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gene Wolfe |
| Publisher | Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster |
| Year | 1982 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printings are identified by a complete number line descending to 1 ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1') on the copyright page; the presence of… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printings are identified by a complete number line descending to 1 ('10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1') on the copyright page; the presence of the 1 is the point, and there is no separate printing statement to rely on. The publisher's binding is quarter maroon/red cloth over blue paper-covered boards, in the Don Maitz illustrated dust jacket, with the price present at the front flap on an unclipped example (ISBN 0-671-43595-7). Note a real catalogue trap: a number of records date the Timescape hardcover 1981 rather than 1982 under the same ISBN — treat the number line, not the catalogue date, as the printing evidence. Descriptions of the spine lettering differ (silver in most, black in a minority), so lettering colour should not be used as a decisive point.

## Is this the true first?
The US Timescape/Simon & Schuster hardcover, New York, is the true first, published January 1982; the UK first is Sidgwick & Jackson, London, May 1982 (ISBN 0-283-98860-6), in a wraparound jacket by Bruce Pennington. Both are collected, and the UK is a genuinely scarce book in its own right, but the US precedes it by roughly four months. The census claim of US precedence is confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No separate book-club printing of the individual Timescape volume was documented in the sources consulted. Beware 'first thus' omnibus traps rather than club editions: the two-volume Sword & Citadel-style collections and the Science Fiction Book Club one-volume Book of the New Sun omnibus (1998) reprint this text and are not the first. Timescape/Pocket also issued a paperback, which is not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Sword of the Lictor* by Gene Wolfe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-sword-of-the-lictor
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.