Terms of Description

TITLE: The title of an entry is that which is found on the title page of a book or at the head of a broadside, postcard, or other ephemeral piece. If there is no title page, the cover title or caption title is cited. In a few instances, a title has been supplied, indicated by enclosure within brackets. Subtitles are generally omitted.

PLACE OF PUBLICATION, PUBLISHER, DATE: If the place of publication, publisher, or date of publication appears on the face of the same sheet as the title, each is shown without brackets. If not, it is shown within brackets, regardless of the source of the supplied information. BINDING: If no binding style is recorded, it is full cloth. Full cloth bindings are described where necessary to distinguish variants within a single printing. All other styles of binding are indicated. "Boards" describes a pasteboard binding material which is not covered by cloth. "Wrappers'' describes a flexible binding material other than pasteboard or cloth covered boards. The binding of mass-market paperbacks is described as wrappers. If the wrappers are of the same paper stock as the text, they are termed self-wrappers. "Broadside" refers to an unfolded sheet printed on one side only. If an unfolded sheet is printed on both sides, it is termed a single sheet printed on both sides.

FORMAT: The process by which books, pamphlets, and ephemeral material are duplicated by mimeograph, hectograph, or a similar quick method of producing mechanically reproduced sheets is identified.

DUST JACKETS: Most modern hardcover books are published with dust jackets. In most cases, the presence of a dust jacket is not indicated unless a printing has been observed with variant dust jackets. Dust jacket variants are described when known, or when additional information is necessary to distinguish first printing jackets from later printing jackets on important books (the now common practice of marrying later printing jackets to first printing books was not anticipated and therefore not addressed at the time many of these records were created). If a modern book is known to have been published without a dust jacket, this fact is so indicated.

IDENTIFICATION OF PRINTING AND EDITION: The four basic terms of bibliographical description are edition, printing (or impression), state, and issue.

EDITION: An edition consists of all the copies printed from one setting of type (or plates made from that typesetting or by offset). One edition may include many printings.

PRINTING: A printing consists of all the copies printed at one time from the same press run. A printing may include states and issues. The term impression is synonymous with printing.

STATE: States occur only within single printings and are created by an alteration to some copies of a printing not affecting the conditions of publication. These variant forms of typesettings or makeup of one or more sheets of the printing are the result of any alteration (a) made during the impression of the sheets, (b) made after impression but before publication, or (c) made after initial publication, providing the alterations are attempts to create a form of ''ideal copy'' envisaged at the time of publication.

ISSUE: Issues occur only within single printings and are created by an alteration to some copies of a printing affecting the conditions of publication or sale. This special form of the original sheets of printing is the result of post-publication-date alterations made intentionally on order of the publisher or issuer and constitute a definite effort to improve or change the import of a portion of the sheets within a printing. Properly used, the terms edition, printing, state, and issue refer only to the imprinted sheets of the book and should not be applied to binding variants. However, the term issue has also been used in this bibliography to distinguish different binding forms which clearly represent the publisher's or issuer's alteration of conditions of publication or sale within a single printing. Such issues generally occur as the result of the creation of deluxe or special copies from a portion of the trade printing or, in the case of older books, the reissue of first printing sheets after initial publication, often as a cheaper or remainder issue.

When present, the statement of printing on the copyright page is transcribed. Unless otherwise noted, reference to the copyright page means title page verso. Many books and pamphlets, especially those printed in the United Kingdom or privately issued, do not carry a copyright statement on this page. Thus, employment of the phrase "no statement of printing on copyright page" for a work lacking a notice of copyright on the title page verso indicates that a statement of printing is not present there or elsewhere in the volume. If a statement of printing is not found on the copyright page, but is present elsewhere in the volume, it is recorded for example as "first published in Great Britain, 1954 on page [2]," or "first published in 1976 on page [48]." When present, the publisher's statement of printing, other than "first edition" and "first printing" is transcribed in whole, or in part where it is not particularly informative. Omitted information is indicated by the employment of ellipses. Generally, the typography of the publisher's printing statement has not been duplicated. Thus, such typography as "FIRST PRINTING-1976" is reproduced in italics as "First printing-1976," and "FIRST PRINTING, MAY 1979 /1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9" is recorded as "First printing, May 1979/1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9." If the publisher's printing statement employs both upper- and lower-case letters, their setting is generally followed.

PRIORITY OF ISSUE: Where known, the chronological priority of multiple states or issues is indicated by the phrase "priority as listed.'' Simultaneous states or issues are indicated by the phrase "no priority." If the sequence of state or issue has not been determined, the phrase "no priority established" is employed. All states or issues within a printing are described when known.

MASS-MARKET PAPERBACK BOOK STOCK NUMBER AND PRICE: Paperback book Stock number and price (when present) are transcribed from the front, rear, or spine of the wrapper. The price printed on the wrapper is recorded following the book stock number transcription and is placed within parentheses. Some mass-market paperbacks lack a printed price. If known, the price is supplied within parentheses, regardless of the source of the parenthetical information.

NUMBERED SERIES: Numbered series are distinguished from excluded serial publications by their lack of regular publishing schedule and, in most cases, lack of availability by subscription. A numbered series or group title of which an entry is a part is always given. Among the numbered series included are AVON FANTASY READER (edited by Donald A. Wollheim), GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS, SCIENCE FICTION CLASSICS, SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, and anthology series such as NEW DIMENSIONS (edited by Robert Silverberg), and QUARK (edited by Samuel R. Delany and Marilyn Hacker).

SERIAL PUBLICATIONS: Serial publications, which include professional and amateur periodicals and journals, are defined as works issued by subscription or as the organ of a professional or amateur organization and for which the publisher's intent was to issue them at regular intervals. Both numbered and unnumbered serials, including special issues, are generally excluded. Excluded are such titles as "The Scientists Revolt" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, issued as THE BURROUGHS BULLETIN no. 40 and E. C. Tubb's "Alien Impact," which comprised the whole issue of AUTHENTIC no. 21. AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION (later AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE ), published monthly in Australia between May 1952 and September 1955 is also excluded. However, a few titles of exceptional interest which are serials have been included.

ANTHOLOGY APPEARANCES: Contributions to books other than those written or edited by the subject author are generally excluded. Some two- and three-author collections of original fiction are included. Examples include Ace and Belmont double novels and a few of the titles issued in Great Britain during the mid-1940's by Utopian Publications, Ltd.