Life, the Universe and Everything

The census claim that the US Harmony hardcover is the first hardcover is WRONG and has been corrected. Pan Books, London, 1982 is the true first edition (paperback original), and Lucius Books (ABA/ILAB) catalogues the Arthur Barker, London, 1982 hardcover explicitly as "First hardcover edition, first printing," noting the book was "first published as a paperback original by Pan Books earlier the same year." Harmony Books, New York, 1982 is the first US edition and the first US hardcover only. Three editions are collected and should be named separately: Pan (true first), Arthur Barker (first hardcover), Harmony (first American). Treating the Harmony or Barker hardcover as "the first edition" is the standard first-thus trap on this title.