The Hunt for Red October

The US Naval Institute Press 1984 hardcover is the true first (world first). Because NIP was a small press, the first printing is scarce and the book went back to press quickly, so most 'NIP' copies offered are later printings — separate them by the six-blurb jacket panel and the 18-line copyright page, since the imprint alone does not prove a first printing. Later commercial reprints (Berkley mass-market paperback and others) and the book-club edition are not the first.