Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 1 Nov 2026.
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Second Foundation, the third Foundation book, is named after the hidden society of psychologists and mentalics Hari Seldon set up to keep his Plan on course. The true first edition is the Gnome Press hardback, New York, 1953 (210 pages, grey cloth, jacket by Ric Binkley, stated first edition). The first British edition was a paperback, not a hardback: Digit Books D192, published by Brown, Watson Ltd, London, in 1958. Its copyright page has a 1953 copyright line, credits the Street & Smith magazine versions and Gnome Press, and states that the Digit Book is the first publication in the United Kingdom; there is no date or number line. Later British issues are not firsts: Panther paperbacks from 1964 (the earliest in the British National Bibliography) and the Sidgwick & Jackson omnibus of 1966.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
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Digit Books, London, in 1958, in paperback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 1 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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