Story & Significance
The limitation notice in this book reads: “… limited to 4,000 copies, of which 500 are numbered and the first 250 are autographed.” That sentence is where most of the confusion about this title begins, because numbered and signed are not the same thing here. Currey records two issues with no priority for The Incredible Planet: 500 copies with a numbered leaf inserted, of which 250 are signed by the author, and the trade issue. Chalker and Owings, at page 159, put it more bluntly, counting three states with no priority, since the numbered copies above 250 are neither the signed limited nor the trade book. This copy is no. 344. It sits in that middle state, a limited copy that was never signed rather than a signed copy missing something.
Chalker and Owings report the reason for the split: Campbell said he was too busy and too tired, and refused to sign more than 250 copies in the time he was given. He did the same thing again seven years later with Islands of Space, where Currey notes the publisher's own inserted statement: Campbell would not sign more than fifty copies, so only the first fifty ordered were autographed and numbered. Fantasy Press printed its standard limitation notice regardless, both times.
Worth spelling out, because of the Fantasy Press titles Currey lists, this is the only one where the limitation splits that way. The others fall into two groups. Most - Campbell's own The Black Star Passes and The Moon Is Hell! among them - are recorded as numbered copies signed by the author throughout, with no unsigned portion at all. A few carry a numbered limitation leaf with no signature recorded anywhere in the entry, which is how Currey describes the three Weinbaum titles, The Black Flame, A Martian Odyssey and Others and The Red Peri, Weinbaum having died in 1935. On this title alone the number on the leaf settles the question: 250 and below signed, 251 through 500 numbered only. That comparison covers the Fantasy Press books Currey lists, which is not everything the press published.
The Incredible Planet was also the first of Campbell's Arcot, Wade and Morey books to reach print. Currey dates it 1949, ahead of The Black Star Passes in 1953, Islands of Space in 1956, and Invaders from the Infinite in 1961, even though the three stories gathered here, “The Incredible Planet,” “The Interstellar Search” and “The Infinite Atom,” come last in the internal sequence. Anyone building the series in publication order starts with this book.
Physical Description
Purple cloth with gilt spine lettering. The gilt has started to fade and flake, though it still reads clearly. The binding is tight and the pages are clean, with no writing, bookplate or ownership marks anywhere in the book. The text block is soiled and faded at the edges, and the endpapers and pastedowns are soiled as well. The rear pastedown carries a wrinkle that looks like a bindery fault rather than later damage or handling. The tipped-in limitation leaf is present and numbered 344. First edition so stated on the copyright page, which is the only point of issue Currey carries for this title. The book grades Very Good.
The dust jacket is Near Fine and unclipped, with the $3.00 price intact. No chipping, tearing or loss, only minor creasing at the head of the spine panel. Jacket design by A. J. Donnell.
Collector's Note
Fantasy Press limitation notices reward close reading, and on this title a buyer has two things to check: whether the tipped-in leaf is present, and what number is on it. A copy advertised as limited with no number quoted could be any of the three states, and copies in the 251 to 500 band do turn up described as signed limited editions by sellers who read the notice instead of the leaf. The notice is not a reliable guide on its own. It claims 4,000 copies, while Chalker and Owings record 3,998 printed (pg. 159), and on Islands of Space Currey flags the same standard wording as simply erroneous. This copy is stated plainly: no. 344, numbered, unsigned.
Currey gives a single first edition point for The Incredible Planet, the first edition statement on the copyright page, and records no binding variants, jacket states or price states. That makes the decision simple. With the statement present and an unclipped $3.00 jacket, there is no priority question left to settle, and everything after that is condition.
The faults on this copy are cosmetic and sit on the outside of the text block and the endpapers. The strengths are structural: tight binding, clean unmarked pages, and a jacket with no loss at all, which is not how most Fantasy Press jackets of this vintage have survived. A collector who wants a bright text block should wait for another copy. A collector who wants the numbered state with an honest, unclipped jacket will not find much to argue with here.
Story & Significance
The limitation notice in this book reads: “… limited to 4,000 copies, of which 500 are numbered and the first 250 are autographed.” That sentence is where most of the confusion about this title begins, because numbered and signed are not the same thing here. Currey records two issues with no priority for The Incredible Planet: 500 copies with a numbered leaf inserted, of which 250 are signed by the author, and the trade issue. Chalker and Owings, at page 159, put it more bluntly, counting three states with no priority, since the numbered copies above 250 are neither the signed limited nor the trade book. This copy is no. 344. It sits in that middle state, a limited copy that was never signed rather than a signed copy missing something.
Chalker and Owings report the reason for the split: Campbell said he was too busy and too tired, and refused to sign more than 250 copies in the time he was given. He did the same thing again seven years later with Islands of Space, where Currey notes the publisher's own inserted statement: Campbell would not sign more than fifty copies, so only the first fifty ordered were autographed and numbered. Fantasy Press printed its standard limitation notice regardless, both times.
Worth spelling out, because of the Fantasy Press titles Currey lists, this is the only one where the limitation splits that way. The others fall into two groups. Most - Campbell's own The Black Star Passes and The Moon Is Hell! among them - are recorded as numbered copies signed by the author throughout, with no unsigned portion at all. A few carry a numbered limitation leaf with no signature recorded anywhere in the entry, which is how Currey describes the three Weinbaum titles, The Black Flame, A Martian Odyssey and Others and The Red Peri, Weinbaum having died in 1935. On this title alone the number on the leaf settles the question: 250 and below signed, 251 through 500 numbered only. That comparison covers the Fantasy Press books Currey lists, which is not everything the press published.
The Incredible Planet was also the first of Campbell's Arcot, Wade and Morey books to reach print. Currey dates it 1949, ahead of The Black Star Passes in 1953, Islands of Space in 1956, and Invaders from the Infinite in 1961, even though the three stories gathered here, “The Incredible Planet,” “The Interstellar Search” and “The Infinite Atom,” come last in the internal sequence. Anyone building the series in publication order starts with this book.
Physical Description
Purple cloth with gilt spine lettering. The gilt has started to fade and flake, though it still reads clearly. The binding is tight and the pages are clean, with no writing, bookplate or ownership marks anywhere in the book. The text block is soiled and faded at the edges, and the endpapers and pastedowns are soiled as well. The rear pastedown carries a wrinkle that looks like a bindery fault rather than later damage or handling. The tipped-in limitation leaf is present and numbered 344. First edition so stated on the copyright page, which is the only point of issue Currey carries for this title. The book grades Very Good.
The dust jacket is Near Fine and unclipped, with the $3.00 price intact. No chipping, tearing or loss, only minor creasing at the head of the spine panel. Jacket design by A. J. Donnell.
Collector's Note
Fantasy Press limitation notices reward close reading, and on this title a buyer has two things to check: whether the tipped-in leaf is present, and what number is on it. A copy advertised as limited with no number quoted could be any of the three states, and copies in the 251 to 500 band do turn up described as signed limited editions by sellers who read the notice instead of the leaf. The notice is not a reliable guide on its own. It claims 4,000 copies, while Chalker and Owings record 3,998 printed (pg. 159), and on Islands of Space Currey flags the same standard wording as simply erroneous. This copy is stated plainly: no. 344, numbered, unsigned.
Currey gives a single first edition point for The Incredible Planet, the first edition statement on the copyright page, and records no binding variants, jacket states or price states. That makes the decision simple. With the statement present and an unclipped $3.00 jacket, there is no priority question left to settle, and everything after that is condition.
The faults on this copy are cosmetic and sit on the outside of the text block and the endpapers. The strengths are structural: tight binding, clean unmarked pages, and a jacket with no loss at all, which is not how most Fantasy Press jackets of this vintage have survived. A collector who wants a bright text block should wait for another copy. A collector who wants the numbered state with an honest, unclipped jacket will not find much to argue with here.
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