could - and perhaps should - have been entitled, ''conan of aquilonia: the one that got away!'':
the one conan novel among the twelve that lancer books contracted for, but failed to publish before entering into their very messy bankruptcy. somehow - it's not entirely clear sfaik to anyone quite how, or why - it was felt both reasonable and right for sphere books ltd. to continue with publishing their uk edition, even though the uk rights had been acquired from lancer, who don't seem to've fully accounted for them to the us literary agent involved, glenn lord; and not only that, but - presumably because sphere books ltd.'s uk rights could only continue if lancer books, inc.'s also were deemed solid despite their neither having published the book, nor having fully accounted for income from the subsidiary rights sale(s), this meant that prestige books - whoever they actually were - were permitted to publish and reprint their mmpb edition too, together with their mmpb edition(s) of the eleven conan books lancer books had managed to publish - prestige books, inc.'s editions looking remarkably similar to lancer books'.
i'm sure it was pure chance, combined with a perfectly rigorous, open market decision, that led to prestige books' mmpbs all being distributed by charter communications / ace books, and later for subsequent printings eventually to drop any mention of prestige books, inc.
reissued (?reprinted?) by/for prestige books 7/1981
cover art by boris vallejo retained
isbn 0-441-11640-X
cover price $2.25
reprinted by/for prestige books or reissued by ace books 1981/2
cover art by boris vallejo retained
isbn from above retained (hence prob'ly prestige books reprint)
nor ordinality of printing nor date stated in publishing history
cover price $2.25
reissued or reprinted by ace books 4/1982
cover art by boris vallejo retained
isbn 0-441-11640-X retained from above printing
cover price $2.25
refer to indica publishing history for number-string missing the initial "1" -> 2nd printing
ace books eighth printing (? including prestige books printing(s)?) 11/1982
cover art by boris vallejo retained
cover price $2.50
isbn 0-441-11612-4
ace books ninth printing (? including prestige books printing(s) ?) 8/1983
isbn of 8th printing retained
refer to indica publishing history to check which is held
cover art by boris vallejo retained
cover price $2.50
ace books tenth printing (? including prestige books printing(s) ?) 7/1984
cover art by boris vallejo retained
cover price $2.75
ace books fifteenth printing (? including prestige books printings ?) 6/1991
isbn 0-441-11484-9
cover art by boris vallejo retained
cover price $3.95 (canadadian price may differ (?))
ace books sixteenth printing (? including prestige books printings?) 4/1994
isbn from 15th printing retained
cover art by boris vallejo retained
cover price $4.50 (canadadian price may differ)
prestige books mmpb, distributed by charter communications, inc. ace books - hence ace books isbn prefix, 0-441-
cover art by boris vallejo (signed)
cover price $1.95
192pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising