ADAMS, Douglas “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” [Pocket Books, 1981] ARC

ADAMS, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

New York: Pocket Books (by arrangement with Crown Publishers), October 1981. First Pocket Books printing, preceding the trade paperback issue. 7" x 4.25", 215pp. Advance Reading Copy, with “ADVANCE READING COPY – NOT FOR SALE” printed on front and rear covers. Original illustrated wrappers. Binding tight; light creasing to spine; very minor edgewear and rubbing to extremities; small surface crease to rear cover; text clean and evenly toned. Near Fine and appears to not have been read.

An Advance Reading Copy of the first U.S. mass-market paperback edition. The first American appearance of the novel was the 1980 Harmony Books hardcover; this Pocket Books issue represents the first U.S. paperback printing, with this example issued in advance for promotional purposes. Scarcer than the standard retail paperback, particularly in collectible condition, and an appealing early American format for Adams’s landmark comic science-fiction novel.