penguin books puffin books imprint first printing, first p/b edition or first uk p/b edition
cover art and
b+w interior illustrations by anne grahame johnstone, janet grahame-johnstone (re-used from h/cvr)
cover price 3'- to right of a puffin book (logo) on a boad black band across the foot of the front cover
208pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp.
new american library signet books imprint mmpb simultaneous first printings sharing merkin-printed covers, first edition
cover art unsigned, uncredited
cat# AE2921
cover price ($3.50 canada) • u.s. $2.95
296pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
refer to indicia publishing history to see if carcass of copy held was canadadian- or merkin- printed
as for all signet & daw mmpbs late 1980 through 1986, canadian-carcassed copies drop the first digit from the printing number line, leaving 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, formally identifying them as the second printing, though no priority established in printing date, nor liable to be
new american library signet books imprint mmpb simultaneous first printings sharing merkin-printed covers
cover art unsigned, uncredited
cat# J9620
cover price $2.25 (canadian-carcassed copies intended for distribution north of the parallel)
cover price $1.95 (wholly merkin-printed copies for general distribution)
192pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
as with all signet and daw mmpbs from late 1980 through end 1986, canadian-carcassed copies drop the first digit from the printing number line, leaving 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, formally identifying them as the second printing, though no priority established in printing date, nor liable to be
cover (d-j) art probably by richard kennedy (check)
b+w interior illustrations by richard kennedy
cover (d-j) price
252pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, bound with endpapers between cloth-covered boards
the hearst corporation avon books mmpb first printing, first mmpb edition, not first p/b edition
cover art by alan craddock (unsigned, uncredited; re-used from new english library p/b, signature visible)
cover price ($4.95 canada) • u.s. $3.50
368pp. (check) including titles, indicia, author's note etc, end pp: seven short nf pieces by various authors between the first and second of three such by j. neil schulman
the hearst corporation avon books imprint mmpb first printing, 1987, not first mmpb edition
cover art unsigned sfaics
cover price (canada $4.50) • u.s. $3.50
252pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. including ''how far alongside night'' (afterword) edward konkin iii, advertising
samuel edward konkin iii is the dedicatee, and the inventor of ''agorism'', a social philosophy built upon counter-economics and the eschewing of any suspicion of democracy, including voting, upon which this novel is based
horwitz publications hong kong, according to the indicia, first printing †
printed in merkia, almost certainly as a run-on of the near-identical belmont-tower mmpb
cover art by attila hejja (signed, uncredited; as on the belmont-tower mmpb)
cover price $1.50
144pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp.
† - but priced only for australia°; horwitz publications seem to've been fairly firmly xxxxia-based, though they did try to expand via co-operative arrangements/tie-ups with tandem books/universal-tandem publishing in the uk, and at least one merkin publisher/distributor (new american library), apparently fairly unsuccessfully
° - were p/bs produced locally in and for sale in hong kong (? and elsewhere?) generally cover-priced?
- how did the xxxxian and hongkongian dollars relate - roughly, or over a range of exchange rates?
universal-tandem publishing tandem books imprint p/b first printing, first uk edition
cover art by gerald wood (signed g wood, uncredited)
cover price 40p, 45c malta, $1.25 australia, $1.25 new zealand, $1.50 canada
384pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising, mail-order information
tandem publishing tandem books imprint uk p/b first printing, second printing over-all
(first tandem p/b printing was published by universal-tandem publishing)
cover art by gerald wood (signed g wood, uncredited)
cover price 60p, 65p malta
including 8 unnumbered pp. titles, indicia, table-of-contents (chapters) etc, rest numbered 1-370, 6 unnumbered end pp. advertising, mail-order information
w.h. allen & co. star books imprint p/b third printing, sixth tandem'n'universal'n'star books p/b printing over-all
(howard & wyndham bought w. h. allen, launched star books, bought tandem publishing, started turning both these into arms of wyndham paperbacks, started turning tandem books into universal books, stopped, reissued/reprinted some as star books - sometimes with new star books isbns, sometimes still using the tandem books isbns - got sold lock, stock and barrel to virgin books - and disappeared in a spiral plummet into the black pit of nothingness. . .
- which is why it makes sense to view the publishing history of tandem books, universal books and star books together with that of w.h. allen & co.'s h/cvrs where such editions were published of titles on the various p/b imprints, through this almost brownian course from publishers to nothingness. . .)
cover art unsigned, uncredited
cover price £1.95, £M2.00 malta, $7.00 australia
416pp. including four unnumbered pp. titles, indicia etc, 3 end pp: 2pp. blank, 1p. mail-order information
refer to indicia publishing history to distinguish from two previous near-identical star books printings:
1978 first star books p/b edition cover art by chris achilleos
1979 second star books printing
universal-tandem publishing tandem books imprint p/b first printing, first uk edition
cover art by gerald wood (painting may be signed, uncredited; tcjn information)
cover price 45p, (overseas territories prices)
412pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, 3 end pp. advertising including 1p. mail-order information
1974 tandem books imprint p/b near-identical second printing differs:
(i)sbn (0)426-14496-1
cat# 14496
cover price 45p, (overseas territories prices?)
refer also to indicia publishing history to distinguish from tandem books 1973 first printing
8/1978 w.h. allen universal imprint p/b first printing on same isbn, third tandem'n'universal p/b printing over-all, new
cover art by chris achilleos
isbn 0-426-14496-1
cover price £1.25 (overseas territories prices?)
universal-tandem publishing tandem books imprint first printing, first uk p/b edition
preceded by sidgwick & jackson first printing, first h/cvr & first uk edition
cover art unsigned, uncredited
sbn 426 06285 X
cover price 30p, 75¢ south africa, 95¢ australia, 95¢ new zealand, $1.25 canada°
320pp. including 4pp. titles, indicia etc, rest numbered 7-317; 5 end pp: 4pp. advertising, 1p. mail-order information
w. h. allen star books imprint p/b first printing, first uk edition
cover art unsigned, uncredited
cover price £2.50, $6.95 australia, $8.95 new zealand, $6.25 canada°
452pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
° - given daw books' mmpb bears a canadian price and was distributed north of the parallel by the new american library, it seems somewhat unlikely that this edition could be distributed there legally
ballantine books mmpb first printings, first edition
cover art by robert (bob) foster (unsigned, uncredited; credited in the indicia of the second, third, fourth & ff. printings)
cover price 75¢
224pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
refer to indicia publishing history to see if carcass of copy held was canadadian- or merkin- printed
no priority stated, though later printings give a delayed date to the canadian-carcassed copies
ballantine books° mmpb first printings, first edition
cover art by bob (robert) foster (signed, credited)
cover price 75¢
348pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
refer to indicia to see if the carcass of the copy held was canadadian- or merkin-printed
no priority stated, though subsequent printings give a later date to the canadian-carcassed copies
° - may also state an intext publisher on title page, and/or in the indicia
random house (uk group unstated) stanley paul imprint h/cvr first printing, probable first edition†
cover (d-j) art none, cover is mainly typographical in black, red, yellow and white (unprinted) upon a green & dark green mottled field
cover (d-j) price none printed on the d-j of my copy
160pp. including x pp. titles, indicia, table-of-contents (acknowledgements, introduction by gyles brandreth, chapters by title, answers, glossary, perfectbound with endpapers between red cloth-covered boards, title, author, hutchinson group logo° & stanley paul blocked in gold on spine
† - almost certainly originated by random house uk, but i have not seen a merkin edition (which may not exist) to compare with this
° - the hutchinson group logo of two lines representing stylised horns and sides of a bulls head, is also upon the spine of the d-j above ''stanley paul'', again in two lines, but nowhere on the book or the d-j is there any reference to the hutchinson publishing group, hutchinson books or any other form of the name. the isbn (originally sbn) publisher prefix is from the block originally assigned to hutchinson publishers, (0-)09-
at least three undated near-identical reprintings distinguishable by the progressive dropping of the lowest remaining digit from the indicia publishing history printing number line, from
(other publishers us ''0'' instead of ''10'' in their printing number lines, some use 1234567890, others 0987654321 as their base first printing number line, some space the digits and some do not, some extend the number line up to 12 , some to 15, once the printing reaches 7th or 8th, others extend it to 20 straight away once 7th or 8th printing is reached;
and latterly, i've noted publishers giving only a single number, e.g. 24 . . .)
in all cases, there is no guarantee the date of any of the reprintings is that of the first printing
unless this is specifically stated to be the so for the later printing, in the publishing history.
faber & faber (though there was only ever the one) h/cvr first printing, first edition
cover art by lee gibbons, based on the qi set design by jonathan paul green, with qi rings illustrated by andy spence design
cover price £10.99
400pp. including xii pp. titles, indicia etc, 1 blank end p, perfectbound with yellow endpapers between laminated boards
also credits the qi elves, collectively and individually: anne miller, andrew hunter murray, anna ptaszynski & alex bell