first published date is^W was wrong and should^W has been corrected to 1963.
first edition published 1963 in hardcover by hodder & stoughton.
atlan/cija series (formerly cija trilogy) #1:
#1: "the serpent" (1963) (this novel)
#1a::"the serpent (first half)" (1975), q.v.
#1b::"the dragon" (1975), (would be "the serpent (second half)" if not given the new title), q.v.
#2: "atlan" (1965), q.v.
#3: "the city" (1966), q.v.
#4: "some summer lands" (1977), q.v.
the two sphere books printings bear completely different cover art, but only the year date of 1967:
the priority i've assigned on the basis of the sphere logo style used may be the reverse of reality:
sphere books p/b first printing, first p/b edition (horizontally-divided disc sphere books logo)
1967 first printing, cover art bill botten (all are reproduced on his website)
this cover design (image #148690) by bill botten; the attribution for the uniform trilogy art on his website refers to this cover art as well as to the cover design.
cover price 5/-, australia 80c, new zealand 6/6 (65c), south africa R 0.60
so this edition should be re-flagged "international" according to respected moderator's rule
- or not so re-flagged, according to equally well-respected moderator's heartfelt plea
480pp. including titles, indicia etc, end p. data
undated (1970) sphere books second p/b printing sharing cat# 3783 bears new
cover art (unsigned) which i ascribe to michael leonard (re-used on or sourced from the paperback library mmpb 1970)
cover price
480pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp.
michael leonard's art for the trilogy is in what yr hmbl srppnt. would describe as a ''brutalist aztec style''.
i have seen one of them ascribed to frank frazetta on no given grounds whatsoever.
n.b. tandem books split this novel in two, entitling the second part (ch.6-end), "the dragon" (1975), q.v,
but retained "the serpent" (1975), the title of the whole novel, for the first part (chh. 1-5).
st. martin's press inc. (1977 & 1977), pocket books inc. mmpbs (1977 & 1977), daw books inc. mmpbs (1985 & 1985), macdonald publishers ltd. (1985 ?& ?1985?) and futura publications ltd (in orbit books) (1985 & 1985) follow tandem books in this.
the two sphere books paperback printings (1967 & 1970(?)), the two paperback library mmpb printings (1968 & 1970) and the 1975 white lion library hardcover: each reprints the whole text of the original 1963 hodder & stoughton hardcover first edition of the novel in one binding.
coronet communications paperback library imprint mmpb second printing with new cat#, new
cover art (unsigned, uncredited, i judge to be by michael leonard; certainly in his style; he did the others in the cija trilogy in the paperback library mmpb line)
cover price 95¢
480pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising (this comment is from another edition of this book)
coronet communications paperback library imprint mmpb first printing, first merkin edition
cover art by frank frazetta (signed, uncredited)
cover price 95¢
480pp. (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising (this comment is from another edition of this book)