Story & Significance
Spacehounds of IPC carries the smallest signed limitation of any E.E. Smith first edition from Fantasy Press. Currey records two issues with no priority: 300 copies with a numbered leaf signed by the author inserted, and the trade issue. Every other Smith title Currey lists under the Fantasy Press imprint, from Skylark Three and Triplanetary through Gray Lensman and Children of the Lens, records a signed issue of 500. By Currey's dates it is also the first of Smith's Fantasy Press books, a year ahead of Skylark Three and Triplanetary in 1948. This copy is number 256.
The limitation leaf reads: "This first edition is limited to 2000 copies, of which 300 are numbered and autographed." Currey confirms the 300 but gives no total for the printing. Chalker and Owings do: 2,008 copies printed (pg. 158), eight more than the notice states. The limitation that matters to a collector, the 300 signed, is the figure both the leaf and Currey agree on.
Currey also notes that a few limited copies prepared for Smith's personal use have an unprinted leaf of glossy paper in place of the printed limitation leaf. This copy has the printed, numbered leaf, which places it in the standard limited issue.
Smith inscribed this copy on the limitation leaf itself: "To William H (Bill) Walling, with regards - Edward E. Smith, PhD." The signature that makes this one of the 300 is the same one that personalizes it, so the book carries a single Smith signature, inscribed rather than bare.
The novel stands outside both the Skylark and Lensman sequences. Fantasy Press reprinted it in 1949, and Currey records that second printing, which is why the jacket on a copy of this book needs checking rather than assuming. More on that below.
Physical Description
Blue cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Currey records no binding variants for this title, so the cloth raises no priority question. The corners are sharp and unbumped, and the binding is tight. The boards show minor soiling and some fading. The endpapers are lightly toned, and there is a small stain on the bottom edge of the text block that does not reach the pages inside. The interior pages are clean, with no writing beyond the inscription described above. The inserted limitation leaf is present, numbered 256 and inscribed. The copyright page carries the first edition statement, which is the identifying point Currey gives for this title. Interior illustrations by A. J. Donnell. The book grades Very Good.
The dust jacket is unclipped with the $3.00 price present on the front flap. There is minor chipping at the head of the spine panel and no other loss noted. The rear panel lists four titles, beginning with Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space, which Currey identifies as the first of the book's two jackets. Jacket design by A. J. Donnell. Near Fine.
Collector's Note
The jacket is the point to settle on this title. Currey records two jackets in priority order: the first lists four titles on the rear panel, beginning with Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space; the second lists eleven, beginning with John Taine's The Forbidden Garden. That later jacket also appears on some copies of the 1949 second printing, and later 1949 jackets advertise five titles. So an eleven-title jacket is not proof of anything on its own, and a buyer who sees one should check the copyright page under it.
This copy has the four-title jacket with The Legion of Space first, the earlier of Currey's two, unclipped, on a numbered, signed and inscribed first. For this title that is the configuration to want, and there is no priority question left open on the book or the jacket.
On the limitation itself, two things are worth checking on any copy offered as signed limited: that the leaf is the printed, numbered one rather than the blank glossy leaf of Smith's personal copies, and that the number falls within the 300. This copy is stated plainly: no. 256, signed and inscribed.
The faults are minor and sit on the outside of the book: light soiling and fading to the cloth and a small stain on the bottom edge of the text block. Against that, the corners are sharp, the binding is tight, the interior is clean, and the priority jacket is unclipped with only minor chipping at the spine head. See our other Fantasy Press first editions.
Story & Significance
Spacehounds of IPC carries the smallest signed limitation of any E.E. Smith first edition from Fantasy Press. Currey records two issues with no priority: 300 copies with a numbered leaf signed by the author inserted, and the trade issue. Every other Smith title Currey lists under the Fantasy Press imprint, from Skylark Three and Triplanetary through Gray Lensman and Children of the Lens, records a signed issue of 500. By Currey's dates it is also the first of Smith's Fantasy Press books, a year ahead of Skylark Three and Triplanetary in 1948. This copy is number 256.
The limitation leaf reads: "This first edition is limited to 2000 copies, of which 300 are numbered and autographed." Currey confirms the 300 but gives no total for the printing. Chalker and Owings do: 2,008 copies printed (pg. 158), eight more than the notice states. The limitation that matters to a collector, the 300 signed, is the figure both the leaf and Currey agree on.
Currey also notes that a few limited copies prepared for Smith's personal use have an unprinted leaf of glossy paper in place of the printed limitation leaf. This copy has the printed, numbered leaf, which places it in the standard limited issue.
Smith inscribed this copy on the limitation leaf itself: "To William H (Bill) Walling, with regards - Edward E. Smith, PhD." The signature that makes this one of the 300 is the same one that personalizes it, so the book carries a single Smith signature, inscribed rather than bare.
The novel stands outside both the Skylark and Lensman sequences. Fantasy Press reprinted it in 1949, and Currey records that second printing, which is why the jacket on a copy of this book needs checking rather than assuming. More on that below.
Physical Description
Blue cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Currey records no binding variants for this title, so the cloth raises no priority question. The corners are sharp and unbumped, and the binding is tight. The boards show minor soiling and some fading. The endpapers are lightly toned, and there is a small stain on the bottom edge of the text block that does not reach the pages inside. The interior pages are clean, with no writing beyond the inscription described above. The inserted limitation leaf is present, numbered 256 and inscribed. The copyright page carries the first edition statement, which is the identifying point Currey gives for this title. Interior illustrations by A. J. Donnell. The book grades Very Good.
The dust jacket is unclipped with the $3.00 price present on the front flap. There is minor chipping at the head of the spine panel and no other loss noted. The rear panel lists four titles, beginning with Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space, which Currey identifies as the first of the book's two jackets. Jacket design by A. J. Donnell. Near Fine.
Collector's Note
The jacket is the point to settle on this title. Currey records two jackets in priority order: the first lists four titles on the rear panel, beginning with Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space; the second lists eleven, beginning with John Taine's The Forbidden Garden. That later jacket also appears on some copies of the 1949 second printing, and later 1949 jackets advertise five titles. So an eleven-title jacket is not proof of anything on its own, and a buyer who sees one should check the copyright page under it.
This copy has the four-title jacket with The Legion of Space first, the earlier of Currey's two, unclipped, on a numbered, signed and inscribed first. For this title that is the configuration to want, and there is no priority question left open on the book or the jacket.
On the limitation itself, two things are worth checking on any copy offered as signed limited: that the leaf is the printed, numbered one rather than the blank glossy leaf of Smith's personal copies, and that the number falls within the 300. This copy is stated plainly: no. 256, signed and inscribed.
The faults are minor and sit on the outside of the book: light soiling and fading to the cloth and a small stain on the bottom edge of the text block. Against that, the corners are sharp, the binding is tight, the interior is clean, and the priority jacket is unclipped with only minor chipping at the spine head. See our other Fantasy Press first editions.
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