Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 1 Nov 2026.
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The Last Question is a short story, not a stand-alone book. It first appeared in the American magazine Science Fiction Quarterly for November 1956 and was first collected in Asimov's Nine Tomorrows (Doubleday, New York, 1959). Its first British book appearance is the Dennis Dobson hardback of Nine Tomorrows, London, 1963, recorded at 224 pages. The Science Fiction Book Club issued a cheaper British edition by arrangement with Dobson in 1964 (some library records misdate it 1959 from the copyright line), and Pan published the first British paperback (M171) in 1966; neither is the first. American Doubleday copies sold in Britain are not British editions.
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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Dennis Dobson, London, in 1963.
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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