The 1961 Putnam first printing is one of the more frequently misidentified books in modern science fiction collecting, and the reason is simple: the copyright page says nothing at all. Currey records no statement of printing for the first printing, and no statement of printing for a later printing either, so the page a collector usually checks first settles nothing here.
What separates them is the book itself. Currey gives the first printing as medium green cloth with the top edge stained light green, the code C22 on page 408, and a half title whose verso lists 28 Books by Robert A. Heinlein. The later printing is bound in yellow green cloth with a plain top edge and a blank half title verso (Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, revised edition). Both printings are green, which is where most of the confusion starts, and arguing about medium green against yellow green with one copy in hand is a poor substitute for turning to page 408.
This copy answers all three of Currey’s points. The C22 code is present on page 408, the top edge carries the green stain, and the verso of the half title leaf lists the 28 titles. The copyright page, as expected, says nothing about the printing.
On the text: this is the 1961 version, cut by roughly a quarter from Heinlein’s manuscript before publication. It is the version that won the Hugo the following year and the only version available for the next thirty years, until the uncut edition appeared in 1991. A collector buying the first printing is buying the book as its first readers actually encountered it, which is a different thing from buying the novel.
Green cloth with gold lettering to the spine, top edge stained green. The cloth is worth a note: the weave is so fine and so flat that the covers read as paper boards at normal handling distance, and it took a loupe here to settle the question. Anyone comparing this copy against a description elsewhere should expect that ambiguity rather than treat it as a discrepancy.
The copyright page carries no statement of printing, the code C22 is present on page 408, and the verso of the half title lists the 28 Heinlein titles. No dust jacket.
Very good condition. The covers show small abrasions and mild soiling, along with very minor shelfwear. Internally the copy is clean throughout: no writing, no previous owner’s name, no marking of any kind, and the pages are clean and unmarked from front to back.
The identification work on this title happens on the book, not the jacket, and that is worth saying plainly because the jacket is where this title gets misrepresented most often. Currey records the first printing jacket as priced $4.50 at the top right corner of the front flap, with Starship Troopers advertised on the rear panel; the later jacket is priced $6.95 and carries a photograph of Heinlein on the rear panel. Jackets are portable. Books are not, and the C22 code cannot be swapped in from another copy.
A second caution follows from the binding. Currey is careful about the difference between cloth and boards, and plenty of sellers are not, so a listing that describes this title as green boards is more often a misread of the fine weave than evidence of a different binding. That cuts both ways: do not write off a copy over the word boards, and do not accept the word cloth as confirmation of anything. Page 408, the top stain, and the half title verso are the three things that decide it.
This copy is offered without a jacket, which puts it in reach as a first printing for a collector who is not chasing a jacketed example, and it will also serve anyone who already owns a correct first printing jacket and needs the right book underneath it.
Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction and Selected Nonfiction, revised edition, Heinlein entry: "STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, [1961]. No statement of printing on copyright page. Code C22 on page 408." Currey’s note adds the medium green cloth, light green top edge stain, and the 28 title listing on the verso of the half title leaf as first printing points, against yellow green cloth, plain top edge, and blank half title verso for the later printing.
The 1961 Putnam first printing is one of the more frequently misidentified books in modern science fiction collecting, and the reason is simple: the copyright page says nothing at all. Currey records no statement of printing for the first printing, and no statement of printing for a later printing either, so the page a collector usually checks first settles nothing here.
What separates them is the book itself. Currey gives the first printing as medium green cloth with the top edge stained light green, the code C22 on page 408, and a half title whose verso lists 28 Books by Robert A. Heinlein. The later printing is bound in yellow green cloth with a plain top edge and a blank half title verso (Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, revised edition). Both printings are green, which is where most of the confusion starts, and arguing about medium green against yellow green with one copy in hand is a poor substitute for turning to page 408.
This copy answers all three of Currey’s points. The C22 code is present on page 408, the top edge carries the green stain, and the verso of the half title leaf lists the 28 titles. The copyright page, as expected, says nothing about the printing.
On the text: this is the 1961 version, cut by roughly a quarter from Heinlein’s manuscript before publication. It is the version that won the Hugo the following year and the only version available for the next thirty years, until the uncut edition appeared in 1991. A collector buying the first printing is buying the book as its first readers actually encountered it, which is a different thing from buying the novel.
Green cloth with gold lettering to the spine, top edge stained green. The cloth is worth a note: the weave is so fine and so flat that the covers read as paper boards at normal handling distance, and it took a loupe here to settle the question. Anyone comparing this copy against a description elsewhere should expect that ambiguity rather than treat it as a discrepancy.
The copyright page carries no statement of printing, the code C22 is present on page 408, and the verso of the half title lists the 28 Heinlein titles. No dust jacket.
Very good condition. The covers show small abrasions and mild soiling, along with very minor shelfwear. Internally the copy is clean throughout: no writing, no previous owner’s name, no marking of any kind, and the pages are clean and unmarked from front to back.
The identification work on this title happens on the book, not the jacket, and that is worth saying plainly because the jacket is where this title gets misrepresented most often. Currey records the first printing jacket as priced $4.50 at the top right corner of the front flap, with Starship Troopers advertised on the rear panel; the later jacket is priced $6.95 and carries a photograph of Heinlein on the rear panel. Jackets are portable. Books are not, and the C22 code cannot be swapped in from another copy.
A second caution follows from the binding. Currey is careful about the difference between cloth and boards, and plenty of sellers are not, so a listing that describes this title as green boards is more often a misread of the fine weave than evidence of a different binding. That cuts both ways: do not write off a copy over the word boards, and do not accept the word cloth as confirmation of anything. Page 408, the top stain, and the half title verso are the three things that decide it.
This copy is offered without a jacket, which puts it in reach as a first printing for a collector who is not chasing a jacketed example, and it will also serve anyone who already owns a correct first printing jacket and needs the right book underneath it.
Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction and Selected Nonfiction, revised edition, Heinlein entry: "STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, [1961]. No statement of printing on copyright page. Code C22 on page 408." Currey’s note adds the medium green cloth, light green top edge stain, and the 28 title listing on the verso of the half title leaf as first printing points, against yellow green cloth, plain top edge, and blank half title verso for the later printing.
