Is My Without Sorcery a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Sturgeon's first book; full title 'Without Sorcery: Thirteen Tales'
• Total printing reported as 2,862 copies
• The trade issue is bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; introduction by Ray Bradbury, illustrations by L. Robert Tschirky
• A deluxe issue was specially bound in burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering, housed in a publisher's board slipcase, signed by Sturgeon and by Tschirky, and carries a holograph limitation statement inked by the publisher on the front pastedown
• SOURCES CONFLICT on that limitation and no figure should be asserted: examined copies record 'One of eighty copies specially bound and signed by the author and artist
• The Prime Press', while Currey (p

How Prime Press, Philadelphia marked a first edition

• First state identified by single print run and absence of later-printing notation; some titles issued in a signed/numbered limited state with a limitation statement
• Match original dust jacket and confirm title-page/copyright date agreement

Full Prime Press, Philadelphia first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Census claim confirmed. Prime Press (Philadelphia, 1948) is the true first edition — a US small-press original with no UK, foreign-language, or other predecessor, so only the US edition is collected. The signed/slipcased deluxe and the black-cloth trade issue are both first edition, differing by issue rather than by printing. One earlier Prime Press item is emphatically not this book: a promotional pamphlet printing the single story 'It' (about 200 copies, some distributed at the 1948 Worldcon) precedes the collection and is a separate item, not a state of it.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the Prime Press printing is documented. The recurring trap is the later paperback reissue titled 'Not Without Sorcery', an abridgement under a changed title that is routinely miscatalogued alongside the 1948 first — a 'first thus' at best. Any copy not bearing the Prime Press imprint is a later edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Without Sorcery a first edition?

A first edition of Without Sorcery by Theodore Sturgeon (Prime Press, Philadelphia) is identified by: Sturgeon's first book; full title 'Without Sorcery: Thirteen Tales'.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Census claim confirmed.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club edition of the Prime Press printing is documented. The recurring trap is the later paperback reissue titled 'Not Without Sorcery', an abridgement under a changed title that is routinely miscatalogued alongside the 1948 first — a 'first thus' at best. Any copy not bearing the Prime Press imprint is a later edition.

I have a first edition of Without Sorcery — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.