# Is "A Deadly Shade of Gold" by John D. MacDonald a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Deadly Shade of Gold by John D. MacDonald (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1965) is identified by: Gold Medal paperback original, 1965, Travis McGee #5 and a double-length entry in the series. Paperback original; the US Gold Medal wraps edition precedes all others.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Gold Medal paperback original, 1965, Travis McGee #5 and a double-length entry in the series
- The first printing appears in pictorial wraps carrying the Gold Medal serial number d1499 on the cover and spine, with the page edges tinted yellow
- The cover art shows the girl by Ron Lesser and McGee rendered by John McDermott
- As a Gold Medal original there is no printer's number line; identify the first printing by the d1499 serial and the absence of any later-printing or higher price notation
- Publisher imprint reads Fawcett Gold Medal
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John D. MacDonald |
| Publisher | Fawcett Gold Medal |
| Year | 1965 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Gold Medal paperback original, 1965, Travis McGee #5 and a double-length entry in the series |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Gold Medal paperback original, 1965, Travis McGee #5 and a double-length entry in the series. The first printing appears in pictorial wraps carrying the Gold Medal serial number d1499 on the cover and spine, with the page edges tinted yellow. The cover art shows the girl by Ron Lesser and McGee rendered by John McDermott. As a Gold Medal original there is no printer's number line; identify the first printing by the d1499 serial and the absence of any later-printing or higher price notation.

## Is this the true first?
Paperback original; the US Gold Medal wraps edition precedes all others. A UK Robert Hale hardcover followed in 1967 and the first US hardcover, from J.B. Lippincott, not until 1974 (some Lippincott copies carry a '175' code at the head of the front jacket flap, with no established priority between coded and uncoded).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
UK Hale hardcover (1967) and the later US Lippincott hardcover (1974) are reprints, not the first. Identify the true first by the d1499 Gold Medal serial and yellow-tinted page edges.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Deadly Shade of Gold* by John D. MacDonald a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-deadly-shade-of-gold
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.