First Edition Identifiers

The first commercially printed hardback is the publication by ERBville Press which was recently printed on Dec. 15, 2002 (photo above). As the only standard hardback of the three listed here, this is the true hardback “First Edition” and it states “First Edition” on the title page. There was a total of only 84 copies printed. They were printed on three separate occasions of 60, 8, and 16 copies. All three printings of the book are identical.

This story fell out of copyright and was printed for the first time by “The Wilma Company” which consisted of four ERB fans headed by Eldon K. Everett. The book was made in 1959 by copying the story from “All-Story” magazine and reducing the text so the book is only 3 5/8” by 4 3/8”. The text is 1/6th the size from the magazine making the book extremely difficult to read. They produced 250 copies, each individually numbered. About 150 copies were bound in a hardcover with tape re-enforced spine, 20 bound in leather, and the rest were paperbacks. In the strictest sense this is the true first edition even though it was not a commercially published standard size hardback.

The first authorized publication was by “House of Greystoke” in 1965 and is a large 6 7/8” wide by 9 7/8” tall pamphlet containing 70+ pages. The front cover illustration is by Frank Frazetta. Charter Press published a normal size paperback version of this in 1979.

The photo of the book below is the “House of Greystoke” publication.

Photographs