4 John Wyndham first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Day of the Triffids (1951) to The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that John Wyndham title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a John Wyndham copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Day of the Triffids — 1951 · Michael JosephTrue first is the 1951 Michael Joseph UK HARDCOVER. Caution title. The US Doubleday hardcover (1951) follows. Serialized in Collier's (1951) as 'Revolt of the Triffids.' The Popular Library/paperback editions are reprints. Caution: hardcover precedes the paperback. UK Michael Joseph is generally the senior first; the US Doubleday is the first US edition. Distinguish hardcover firsts from the SFBC and from paperback reprints.
- The Kraken Wakes — 1953 · Michael JosephFirst edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, July 1953, hardback in dustwrapper with the publisher's price present at the inside flap. Michael Joseph first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and carry no additional impression line; any added impression statement rules out the first, and there is no number line on this publisher's books of the period. Cloth colour…. Census claim CONFIRMED. Michael Joseph, London, 1953 is the true first. L.W. Currey (ABAA/ILAB) catalogues Out of the Deeps (Ballantine, New York, 1953) as the "First U.S. edition" and notes it was "Issued earlier in Britain with textual differences as THE KRAKEN WAKES (1953)." The Science Fiction Encyclopedia bibliography lists The Kraken Wakes (London: Michael Joseph, 1953) first, with Out of the Deeps (New…. No book-club issue is documented for the 1953 Michael Joseph printing in the sources consulted. The reprint tell for the UK edition is an added impression statement on the copyright page. For the Ballantine issue, the boards and paperback formats are simultaneous rather than sequential; the paperback carries the Ballantine series number.
- The Chrysalids — 1955 · Ballantine BooksThe true first is Re-Birth, Ballantine Books, New York, 1955 — issued, per Ballantine's simultaneous-format practice of the period, in small octavo cloth with dustwrapper and as a Ballantine paperback (No. 104), with cover art by Richard M. Powers; L.W. Currey records no printing statement in the book itself, so the first issue is established by the 1955 Ballantine imprint and format rather than by an edition…. The census claim that Michael Joseph (UK) 1955 is the true first is REFUTED and has been corrected. Two independent bibliographic authorities place the American edition first: L.W. Currey (ABAA/ILAB) catalogues Re-Birth (Ballantine, 1955) as the "First edition" and notes it was "Published later in Britain with textual differences as THE CHRYSALIDS (1955)"; the Science Fiction Encyclopedia lists Re-Birth (New…. No book-club issue is documented for either 1955 edition in the sources consulted. For the Michael Joseph edition the reprint tell is an added impression statement on the copyright page. For the Ballantine issue, the cloth and paperback formats are simultaneous rather than sequential and neither is a reprint of the other; the paperback bears the Ballantine series number.
- The Midwich Cuckoos — 1957 · Michael JosephFirst edition, first impression: London, Michael Joseph, 1957, octavo, 239 pp., in the publisher's black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt. Dustwrapper is the red-and-cream pictorial design by Dick Hart, with the publisher's price present at the foot of the front flap. Per Michael Joseph's house convention, first impressions state "First published" with the year on the copyright page and list no further…. Census claim CONFIRMED as to precedence, with one correction to the detail: Michael Joseph, London, 1957 is the true first. The Science Fiction Encyclopedia bibliography lists The Midwich Cuckoos (London: Michael Joseph, 1957) followed by The Midwich Cuckoos (New York: Ballantine Books, 1958) marked "[rev of the above]". The US Ballantine edition therefore did NOT follow in the same year — it is 1958, and it…. No book-club issue is documented for the 1957 Michael Joseph printing in the sources consulted. Later Michael Joseph impressions (second, third, some carrying 1958 dates) are identified by the added impression statement on the copyright page while retaining the same jacket design, which is a common source of misdescription on this title.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Ryder (Robert Ludlum pseudonym), Jonathan Safran Foer, Joseph Conrad, Joseph Heller.
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