Talking God

The census claim is confirmed. Harper & Row, New York, 1989, is the true first; the UK first (Michael Joseph, London, 1990; ISBN 0-7181-3376-5, jacket by Leslie Howell) followed a year later, so US precedence is unambiguous and there is no simultaneity question. One further issue of the first edition is collected alongside the trade and should be named: the publisher's limited issue (Hieb A11b; ISBN 0-06-016153-1), with a limitation leaf at [i] reading "Of the first edition of Talking God three hundred copies have been specially bound and slipcased. Each copy is signed and numbered by the author." It is distinguished from the trade by a WHITE cloth spine over light brown boards lettered in metallic copper, the signed and numbered limitation leaf, and a Peter Thorpe-designed slipcase (Navajo sandstone scene front, Washington, D.C. scene back). Same copyright-page statement and code line as the trade.