Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future

Methuen, London, 1930 is the true first — census confirmed. Stapledon was British and no earlier original-language edition exists. The first American edition is Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1931, with "First Published in America 1931" on the copyright page and an author's "Foreword to the American Edition" unique to it; it is collected in its own right but is not the first. The US edition also has a binding sequence worth knowing: the first binding is purple cloth with the panels ruled in blind, spine stamped in gold, top edge stained and fore/bottom edges rough trimmed; a later binding is tan cloth with the spine stamped in black. Where both editions are collected, name them as first (Methuen 1930) and first US (Cape & Harrison Smith 1931, first binding purple cloth).