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First Editions

A visitor to this website, Terry Zobeck, generously provided these cover images of his Alistair MacLean first editions. His collection covers both UK and U.S. editions. I have laid them out chronologically. (I apologize if this page takes a while to load; I wanted to include all covers at substantial sizes, which takes a lot of data.)

It's interesting to see how the covers are often quite similar but equally often bear little resemblance to each other. Early on, many more UK covers featured people, but that trend switched later. Some U.S. covers added brief descriptions of the books. Typography was sometimes the main difference (I especially like the "mod" lettering on the UK version of Circus). Seawitch shows the greatest contrast — would you be more enticed by an illustration of men aiming rifles beneath chattering helicopters, or by an image of a rusty barrel sitting in some water? Anyway, enjoy this collection!

 

 UK First Editions

U.S. First Editions

 HMS Ulysses - UK first edition  HMS Ulysses - US first edition
 The Guns of Navarone - UK first edition  The Guns of Navarone - US first edition
 South by Java Head - UK first edition  South by Java Head - US first edition
 The Last Frontier - UK first edition  The Secret Ways - US first edition
 Night Without End - UK first edition  Night Without End - US first edition
 Fear is the Key - UK first edition  Fear is the Key - US first edition
 The Dark Crusader - UK first edition  The Black Shrike - US first edition
 The Golden Rendezvous - UK first edition  The Golden Rendezvous - US first edition
 The Satan Bug - UK first edition  The Satan Bug - US first edition
 All About Lawrence of Arabia - UK first edition  All About Lawrence of Arabia - US first edition
 Ice Station Zebra - UK first edition  Ice Station Zebra - US first edition
 When Eight Bells Toll - UK first edition  When Eight Bells Toll - US first edition
 Where Eagles Dare - UK first edition  Where Eagles Dare - US first edition
 Force 10 from Navarone - UK first edition  Force 10 from Navarone - US first edition
 Puppet on a Chain - UK first edition  Puppet on a Chain - US first edition
 Caravan to Vaccares - UK first edition  Caravan to Vaccares - US first edition
 Bear Island - UK first edition  Bear Island - US first edition
 Captain Cook - UK first edition  Captain Cook - US first edition
 The Way to Dusty Death - UK first edition  The Way to Dusty Death - US first edition
 Breakheart Pass - UK first edition  Breakheart Pass - US first edition
 Circus - UK first edition  Circus - US first edition
 The Golden Gate - UK first edition  The Golden Gate - US first edition
 Seawitch - UK first edition  Seawitch - US first edition
 Goodbye California - UK first edition  Goodbye California - US first edition
 Athabasca - UK first edition  Athabasca - US first edition
 River of Death - UK first edition  River of Death - US first edition
 Partisans - UK first edition  Partisans - US first edition
 Floodgate - UK first edition  Floodgate - US first edition
 San Andreas - UK first edition  San Andreas - US first edition
 The Lonely Sea - UK first edition  The Lonely Sea - US first edition
 Santorini - UK first edition  Santorini - US first edition