The Kraken Wakes

Census claim CONFIRMED. Michael Joseph, London, 1953 is the true first. L.W. Currey (ABAA/ILAB) catalogues Out of the Deeps (Ballantine, New York, 1953) as the "First U.S. edition" and notes it was "Issued earlier in Britain with textual differences as THE KRAKEN WAKES (1953)." The Science Fiction Encyclopedia bibliography lists The Kraken Wakes (London: Michael Joseph, 1953) first, with Out of the Deeps (New York: Ballantine Books, 1953) marked "[cut vt of the above]". Both editions are collected and both should be named: The Kraken Wakes is the true first and the complete text; Out of the Deeps is the first American edition and is abridged — documented cuts include most of a chapter on how the Watsons acquired the yacht Midge, passages on Mike Watson's mental state, and a substantially different, bleaker epilogue. Same-year publication under a different title makes this a live alternate-title trap in both directions.