Slan

Arkham House 1946 is the true first book edition and van Vogt's first book, from the Astounding Science-Fiction serial (Sept-Dec 1940) — census confirmed on publisher and year. The census note's claim that this is "one of only two SF novels Arkham House ever issued" is NOT supported: Derleth's own Arkham bibliography calls Slan "the first Arkham House science-fiction novel," and The Torch by Jack Bechdolt (1948), sometimes cited as the second, was a Prime Press book, not an Arkham House one. First British edition: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1953 (black cloth, silver titling, 247 pp.). First-thus trap: Simon & Schuster, New York, 1951 is the first major-trade-house edition and carries a substantially revised text (chapter 18 heavily rewritten) — a landmark issue, but not the first.