# Is "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. (Shasta Publishers, 1948) is identified by: Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948; full title Who Goes There?. Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948 is the true first — census confirmed — and is the first appearance in book form of the 1938 Astounding novella that became The Thing from Another World (1951) and The Thing (1982).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948; full title Who Goes There? Seven Tales of Science-Fiction
- First edition is stated on the copyright page (Bauman Rare Books: "First edition with statement on copyright page")
- Octavo (20 cm), pp. [viii],[2],3-230,[2], publisher's blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; pictorial dust jacket by Hannes Bok, price present at the front flap
- Dealer catalogues report a first printing of about 3,000 copies
- The contents are Campbell's Don A. Stuart tales, but dealer cataloguing consistently bylines the book to John W. Campbell, Jr. — do not expect a Don A. Stuart title-page byline
- Publisher imprint reads Shasta Publishers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John W. Campbell, Jr. |
| Publisher | Shasta Publishers |
| Year | 1948 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948; full title Who Goes There? Seven Tales of Science-Fiction |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948; full title Who Goes There? Seven Tales of Science-Fiction. First edition is stated on the copyright page (Bauman Rare Books: "First edition with statement on copyright page"). Octavo (20 cm), pp. [viii],[2],3-230,[2], publisher's blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; pictorial dust jacket by Hannes Bok, price present at the front flap. Dealer catalogues report a first printing of about 3,000 copies. The contents are Campbell's Don A. Stuart tales, but dealer cataloguing consistently bylines the book to John W. Campbell, Jr. — do not expect a Don A. Stuart title-page byline.

## Is this the true first?
Shasta Publishers, Chicago, 1948 is the true first — census confirmed — and is the first appearance in book form of the 1938 Astounding novella that became The Thing from Another World (1951) and The Thing (1982). It was also Shasta's own first book. No UK, US-rival, or original-language edition precedes it, so there is no precedence contest for this title; every competing candidate is a later Shasta printing or a paperback reprint.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The trap is Shasta's own 1951 reprint: it states the second edition on the copyright page and wears a movie tie-in jacket by Malcolm Smith keyed to The Thing from Another World. The Hannes Bok jacket belongs to the 1948 first — a Bok jacket on a copyright page stating a second edition is a married copy, and a Malcolm Smith tie-in jacket is never the first. Later paperback reprints carry their own imprints. No book-club issue of the 1948 printing is documented in the sources consulted; note also that Shasta's first-edition statement practice is not documented as a house-wide rule, so read the copyright page of each Shasta title on its own terms.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Who Goes There?* by John W. Campbell, Jr. a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/who-goes-there
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.