3 Theodore Sturgeon first editions are documented on this shelf, from Without Sorcery (1948) to Some of Your Blood (1961) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Theodore Sturgeon 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 Theodore Sturgeon copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Without Sorcery — 1948 · Prime Press, PhiladelphiaSturgeon's first book; full title 'Without Sorcery: Thirteen Tales'. Total printing reported as 2,862 copies. The trade issue is bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; introduction by Ray Bradbury, illustrations by L. Robert Tschirky. A deluxe issue was specially bound in burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering, housed in a publisher's board slipcase, signed by Sturgeon and by Tschirky, and…. Census claim confirmed. Prime Press (Philadelphia, 1948) is the true first edition — a US small-press original with no UK, foreign-language, or other predecessor, so only the US edition is collected. The signed/slipcased deluxe and the black-cloth trade issue are both first edition, differing by issue rather than by printing. One earlier Prime Press item is emphatically not this book: a promotional pamphlet…. No book-club edition of the Prime Press printing is documented. The recurring trap is the later paperback reissue titled 'Not Without Sorcery', an abridgement under a changed title that is routinely miscatalogued alongside the 1948 first — a 'first thus' at best. Any copy not bearing the Prime Press imprint is a later edition.
- More Than Human — 1953 · Farrar, Straus and Young, New YorkFirst edition states 'First Printing, 1953' on the copyright page with no later-printing notice; priced dust jacket; Farrar, Straus and Young imprint (the firm's earlier name, not the later 'Farrar, Straus' style). International Fantasy Award winner. The US Farrar, Straus and Young hardcover (1953) is the true first book edition, preceding the UK Gollancz edition (1954). A Ballantine paperback appeared in the same period; the FS&Y hardcover holds collecting priority. The Science Fiction Book Club edition shows a rear-board gutter blind-stamp and an unpriced 'Book Club Edition' jacket on cheaper boards. Confirm the Farrar, Straus and Young imprint and 'First Printing, 1953' on the trade first.
- Some of Your Blood — 1961 · Ballantine BooksTrue first is the paperback original, Ballantine Books F562 (1961), the printed price. Paperback wraps; no hardcover precedes it. Ballantine imprint and catalog number; first printing has no later-printing statement. Paperback is the true first. Later hardcover and reissue editions are first-thus only. No book-club edition for the original. Distinguish the Ballantine F562 first from later Ballantine printings (higher numbers, raised price).
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Thomas Hardy, Thomas Love Peacock, Thomas McGuane, Thomas Pynchon, Thomas Wolfe, Thornton Wilder.
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