This is the true first edition of Ring Around the Sun, Simon and Schuster, 1953, and it is one of the more cleanly identified Simak firsts of the period. Currey records the first printing as boards with the printing statement present on the copyright page, and the copy in hand agrees on both points. State is not a matter of judgment here. The statement is either printed or it is not, and on this copy it is printed, so what a buyer gets is a verifiable first rather than a presumed one.
The hardcover is also the edition that matters because it comes before the paperback most readers know. Simak's novel was paired with L. Sprague de Camp's Cosmic Manhunt in Ace Double D-61, which Currey dates to 1954. That Ace Double is the copy that still surfaces most often and the one many collectors first owned, but it is a later appearance and a separate object. The Simon and Schuster 1953 printing, stated first, is the first edition.
The novel works in Simak's pastoral, anti-materialist vein, built on a ring of parallel Earths and a slow turn away from an acquisitive society, themes he kept returning to across the decade.
First edition, first printing, published by Simon and Schuster, New York, in 1953, with the first printing stated on the copyright page. The book is bound in yellow boards lettered in black. The unclipped dust jacket retains the original $2.75 price on the front flap, which is worth noting, since the intact price confirms the jacket has not been clipped or swapped for a later one. Jacket art is credited to Paul Bacon.
Condition is graded Very Good in a Good dust jacket. The leaves are tanned throughout. The previous owner's name is written on the front pastedown in what is now an illegible hand. The dust jacket shows chipping along with significant rubbing to the front panel.
For a collector who wants the genuine 1953 first edition of a Simak novel without paying what a sharp, bright copy commands, this is a sensible way in. The point of issue is clean and stated, so the buyer is acquiring a first that can be verified rather than taken on faith, and the honest jacket condition, a Good jacket with chipping and rubbing, is what keeps the copy accessible. The unclipped $2.75 price and the Paul Bacon jacket are small additional pluses for a copy in this grade.
This is the true first edition of Ring Around the Sun, Simon and Schuster, 1953, and it is one of the more cleanly identified Simak firsts of the period. Currey records the first printing as boards with the printing statement present on the copyright page, and the copy in hand agrees on both points. State is not a matter of judgment here. The statement is either printed or it is not, and on this copy it is printed, so what a buyer gets is a verifiable first rather than a presumed one.
The hardcover is also the edition that matters because it comes before the paperback most readers know. Simak's novel was paired with L. Sprague de Camp's Cosmic Manhunt in Ace Double D-61, which Currey dates to 1954. That Ace Double is the copy that still surfaces most often and the one many collectors first owned, but it is a later appearance and a separate object. The Simon and Schuster 1953 printing, stated first, is the first edition.
The novel works in Simak's pastoral, anti-materialist vein, built on a ring of parallel Earths and a slow turn away from an acquisitive society, themes he kept returning to across the decade.
First edition, first printing, published by Simon and Schuster, New York, in 1953, with the first printing stated on the copyright page. The book is bound in yellow boards lettered in black. The unclipped dust jacket retains the original $2.75 price on the front flap, which is worth noting, since the intact price confirms the jacket has not been clipped or swapped for a later one. Jacket art is credited to Paul Bacon.
Condition is graded Very Good in a Good dust jacket. The leaves are tanned throughout. The previous owner's name is written on the front pastedown in what is now an illegible hand. The dust jacket shows chipping along with significant rubbing to the front panel.
For a collector who wants the genuine 1953 first edition of a Simak novel without paying what a sharp, bright copy commands, this is a sensible way in. The point of issue is clean and stated, so the buyer is acquiring a first that can be verified rather than taken on faith, and the honest jacket condition, a Good jacket with chipping and rubbing, is what keeps the copy accessible. The unclipped $2.75 price and the Paul Bacon jacket are small additional pluses for a copy in this grade.
