Elric of Melniboné

UK precedes and is the true first: Hutchinson (London), 1972 — the first Elric story published as a novel in book form. The first American appearance is a corrupt one: the Lancer paperback of 1972 retitled The Dreaming City, re-edited without Moorcock's permission and retitled without his approval, as DAW's own subsequent note records — a variant text, not an authorized first. Two later US editions are both collected and both are "first thus": DAW (New York, October 1976, 160 pp., Michael Whelan cover) is the first US printing of the authorized Hutchinson text, and Blue Star Publishers (Hartford, CT, 1977) is the first American hardcover — limited to 2,200 copies, red leather-like boards gilt-stamped, inserted colour frontispiece with tissue guard, illustrated by Robert Gould, issued in a slipcase without jacket. Name trap: The Dreaming City is also the title of Moorcock's 1961 Elric novelette in Science Fantasy 47, a different work entirely. Arrow (1973), Berkley, Ace, Grafton and Centipede Press issues are reprints or "first thus."