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Publication: The Best of Science Fiction

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  • Publication: The Best of Science FictionPublication Record # 4111
  • Editor: Groff Conklin
  • Date: 1946-02-11
  • Publisher: Crown Publishers
  • Price:
    $3.00?$: US dollar
  • Pages: xxvii+785
  • Format:
    hc?Hardcover. Used for all hardbacks of any size.
  • Type: ANTHOLOGY
  • Cover: The Best of Science Fiction by Robert Josephy
  • Notes:
    • This listing is for the 1st printing. See below for points differentiating 1st and 2nd printing.
    • Catalog of Copyright entry A00000001024 and Cole checklist of SF anthologies give publication date of February 11, 1946 for the 1st printing.
    • On copyright page: "Copyright, 1946, by Crown Publishers" and "Designed by Robert Josephy". No statement of edition or printing.
    • $3.00 price on front flap of dust jacket. Tuck incorrectly lists $3.50 price of later printings.
    • There are six parts to the book:
      • PART ONE THE ATOM ("Solution Unsatisfactory" to "Atomic Power")
      • PART TWO THE WONDERS OF EARTH ("Killdozer!" to "Liquid Life")
      • PART THREE THE SUPERSCIENCE OF MAN("A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" to "A Scientist Divides")
      • PART FOUR DANGEROUS INVENTIONS ("Tricky Tonnage" to "The Machine")
      • PART FIVE ADVENTURES IN DIMENSION ("Short-Circuited Probability" to "The Monster From Nowhere")
      • PART SIX FROM OUTER SPACE ("First Contact" to "Jackdaw")
    • No BLIC.
    • The 1st and 2nd printing are differentiated by the following points:   - Author credit for The Monster From Nowhere:
      • 1st printing: as noted by Tuck, "error in first printing credited to D. Wandrei" in Table of Contents and on page 542. As noted by Bud Webster in Anthopology 101 (http://www.philsp.com/articles/anthopology_101_03.html), "this was because Wandrei had written a story with the same title". The Cole Checklist notes a "second edition" of the 1st printing "carried an errata slip".
      • 2nd printing: correctly credited to Nelson Bond in Table of Contents and on page 542, with an added footnote on page 542 that begins, "Note: By error, Mr. Bond's story was credited to Donald Wandrei in the first edition of this anthology ...".
    • Copyright page:
      • 1st printing: No printer credit.
      • 2nd printing: Printer credit for "American Book – Stratford Press".
    • Boards:
      • 1st printing: embossed in silver on front and spine. Verification copy is black cloth.
      • 2nd printing: embossed in gold on spine only. Verification copy is maroon cloth.
    • Book size:
      • both: Book is 6 x 8.5".
      • 1st printing: very thin paper (as during wartime paper rationing) so book is only 1.25" thick.
      • 2nd printing: thicker paper, so book is 1.75" thick.
    • Dust jacket:
      • both: Color-printed portion is identical, 7.25" wide. $3.00 price on front flap.
      • 1st printing: Jacket is 21.5" wide. Blurb on back flap is for Furlough From Heaven (1946). Top 2 (of 6) blurbs on back are for The Collected Stories of Ben Hecht (1945) and A Treasury of American Folklore (1944).
      • 2nd printing: Jacket is 22" wide, with slightly wider back and flaps to fit thicker book. Blurb on back flap is for The Murder of the U.S.A. (1946). Top 2 (of 6) blurbs on back are for A Treasury of American Folklore and 20 Best Stories in Ray Long's 20 Years As An Editor (1932).
  • External IDs:
Cover art supplied by ISFDB on this Web page
Anthology Title: The Best of Science Fiction • anthology by Groff Conklin

Contents (view Concise Listing)

Primary Verifications

Verifier Date Type Last User Activity Date
Markwood 2014-01-09 15:20:19 Permanent 2024-03-04
SFJuggler 2014-02-02 23:39:28 Permanent 2024-04-16
Spacecow 2023-07-02 12:48:45 Permanent 2024-03-27

Secondary Verifications

Source Status Verifier Date
Bleiler Early Years N/A Rtrace 2019-05-04 08:44:56
Bleiler Supernatural N/A Rtrace 2019-05-04 08:44:56
Bleiler1 (Gernsback) Verified Rtrace 2019-05-04 08:44:56
Bleiler78 Verified Rtrace 2021-06-12 17:12:47
Clute/Grant N/A Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
Clute/Nicholls Verified Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
Contento1 (anth/coll) Verified Bluesman 2009-03-21 14:06:44
Currey N/A Bluesman 2009-03-21 14:06:44
Locus1 N/A Bluesman 2009-03-21 14:06:44
Miller/Contento N/A Bluesman 2009-03-21 14:06:44
OCLC/Worldcat Verified Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
Reginald1 Verified Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
Reginald3 N/A Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
Tuck Verified Bluesman 2011-10-30 19:29:21
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