# Is "Vacuum Diagrams" by Stephen Baxter a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter (Voyager, 1997) is identified by: UK Voyager (HarperCollinsPublishers) hardcover, 1997, ISBN 0-00-225425-5 (9780002254250), subtitled Stories of the Xeelee Sequence. The UK Voyager 1997 hardcover is the true first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- UK Voyager (HarperCollinsPublishers) hardcover, 1997, ISBN 0-00-225425-5
- , subtitled Stories of the Xeelee Sequence
- The first printing carries the odd-then-even printer's key 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 on the copyright page
- Issued in cloth boards with a pictorial dust jacket bearing the printed price on the front flap (present on an unclipped example), the HarperCollins Voyager imprint on the spine, and the subtitle on the title page
- Publisher imprint reads Voyager
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen Baxter |
| Publisher | Voyager |
| Year | 1997 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | UK Voyager (HarperCollinsPublishers) hardcover, 1997, ISBN 0-00-225425-5 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
UK Voyager (HarperCollinsPublishers) hardcover, 1997, ISBN 0-00-225425-5 (9780002254250), subtitled Stories of the Xeelee Sequence. The first printing carries the odd-then-even printer's key 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 on the copyright page. Issued in cloth boards with a pictorial dust jacket bearing the printed price on the front flap (present on an unclipped example), the HarperCollins Voyager imprint on the spine, and the subtitle on the title page.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Voyager 1997 hardcover is the true first edition. The US HarperPrism trade paperback (January 1999) was the Philip K. Dick Award-eligible edition and won the award presented in 2000, but it followed the UK hardcover by about two years. This is a collection of linked Xeelee-sequence stories, not a novel.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The US HarperPrism edition is the first US printing; later HarperPrism/Eos and reprint impressions are reprints. Confirm the UK first by the 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 number line on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Vacuum Diagrams* by Stephen Baxter a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/vacuum-diagrams
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.