# Is "The Travelling Vampire Show" by Richard Laymon a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Travelling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon (Cemetery Dance, 2000) is identified by: Cemetery Dance Publications signed limited hardcover first edition, 2000; 1,000 signed and numbered copies bound in navy cloth with silver lettering to the spine, with blue endpapers and pastedowns, signed by Laymon on the limitation page, issued in a priced dust jacket. The Cemetery Dance limited (published under the Cemetery Dance title 'The Traveling Vampire Show') is the true first; the Leisure US mass-market paperback followed in 2001 as the first widely distributed trade edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Cemetery Dance Publications signed limited hardcover first edition, 2000
- 1,000 signed and numbered copies bound in navy cloth with silver lettering to the spine, with blue endpapers and pastedowns, signed by Laymon on the limitation page, issued in a priced dust jacket
- A separate deluxe issue comprises 26 signed and lettered copies bound in leather and housed in a traycase
- Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel
- Publisher imprint reads Cemetery Dance
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard Laymon |
| Publisher | Cemetery Dance |
| Year | 2000 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Cemetery Dance Publications signed limited hardcover first edition, 2000 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Cemetery Dance Publications signed limited hardcover first edition, 2000; 1,000 signed and numbered copies bound in navy cloth with silver lettering to the spine, with blue endpapers and pastedowns, signed by Laymon on the limitation page, issued in a priced dust jacket. A separate deluxe issue comprises 26 signed and lettered copies bound in leather and housed in a traycase. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel.

## Is this the true first?
The Cemetery Dance limited (published under the Cemetery Dance title 'The Traveling Vampire Show') is the true first; the Leisure US mass-market paperback followed in 2001 as the first widely distributed trade edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
N/A; small-press limited identified by its signed and numbered (or lettered) limitation page, with no book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Travelling Vampire Show* by Richard Laymon a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-travelling-vampire-show
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.