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First Edition (with errors)

19 points · submitted Jul 2026 by u/PrincessMommy2

My grandfather gave me this before he passed away. He kept it under lock and key. It's unsigned but obviously was super important to him.

4 comments · 96% upvoted · source · other discussions

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DavidDPerlmutter 5 points · Jul 2026

"The Ringworld is unstable"

JeanLuc_Richard 2 points · Jul 2026

Which way is Louis Wu travelling on earth to stay ahead of midnight?

Tregavin 2 points · Jul 2026

That's cool!

cosmicrae 1 points · Jul 2026 · Cronus

So my copy looks similar, but not exactly the same.

First Edition: October 1970

different cover art work

Cover Art by Don Davis

then there is, what I call, the actual printing countdown. This is where they believe there will be multiple runs at the presses, and put a sequence of numbers identifying those possible runs, and sequentially remove the numbers from the prior printings. On mine it says: 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35

Which says this is the 35th printing (and also very well worn).

Meanwhile my hardcover edition may well be a first edition of the hardcover, because it has no countdown of the printing. It merely says:

Copyright © 1970 by Larry Niven.
Author's Note copyright © 1977 by Larry Niven

but then down a few lines says:
First published in hardcover in 1977 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

If there is a hardcover without the author's note, it would be from the same era as your copy.

edit: now I realize that the inside pages you posted, as from the example on the left (which is a real first edition I suspect). Your cover on the right is exactly the same as mine. Does it have a printing countdown like mine does ?