# Is "Tower of Glass" by Robert Silverberg a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970) is identified by: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970. US Charles Scribner's Sons first hardcover edition; this is the true first printing of the novel.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970
- First edition identified by the Scribner 'A' on the copyright page together with the Scribner seal (the publisher's first-printing convention for this period): the capital 'A' stands alone with no later letter-number impression code
- Issued in publisher's cloth with a priced dust jacket; the jacket should carry its printed price, and a price-clipped jacket cannot be dated by the jacket alone but does not by itself indicate a later printing
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Silverberg |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970. First edition identified by the Scribner 'A' on the copyright page together with the Scribner seal (the publisher's first-printing convention for this period): the capital 'A' stands alone with no later letter-number impression code. Issued in publisher's cloth with a priced dust jacket; the jacket should carry its printed price, and a price-clipped jacket cannot be dated by the jacket alone but does not by itself indicate a later printing.

## Is this the true first?
US Charles Scribner's Sons first hardcover edition; this is the true first printing of the novel.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No separate book-club edition issue is noted for this title. Later Scribner printings replace the 'A' with a letter-number impression code (for example B-2.71 for the February 1971 second printing), so any such code on the copyright page marks a later printing rather than the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tower of Glass* by Robert Silverberg a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tower-of-glass
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.