1st.EDITION: UK: Rich & Cowan, hb, , Aug 1955, 216pp, 10/6d (Rudland)

USA 1st.: Gregg Press, hb, 2413-0, Jun 1978, 223pp, $11.00 (?) {Levack: Introduction by Richard Lupoff. Frontispiece by Hannah Shapero. Bound in dark green cloth with gold lettering on the spine. "First Printing, June 1978" on the copyright page. Issued without dust-jacket. Text is photo-reproduced from the 1955 Rich & Cowan edition.

OTHER ENGLISH EDITIONS

• Rich & Cowan, hb, ?, Jun 1957, ?, 6/6d (?)
• Panther, pb, 2108, 1966, 186pp, 6/- (?)

• Granada, pb, 04804-9, Jan 1980, 186pp, 95p (Colin Hay)

  Grafton, pb, 04804-9, Nov 1988, 237pp, L2.99 (Foss)

FOREIGN EDITIONS:

• Bruna SF, pb, 1100, 1969, 189pp, ?, (Dick Bruna) {tr. into the Dutch by Henk Bouwman as EEN HANDVOL DUISTERNIS [+A110] [-A100, A67, A95, 157, A134, 129]}
• Stig Vendelkaer, pb, ?, 1973, 207pp, ?, (?) {tr. into Danish by Kristian Kliim as EN HANDFUL MORKE}
• Terra Sonderband, pb, 76, 1963, ?, ? (?) {tr. into German as EINE HANDVOLL DUNKELHEIT}{Contents: Expendable, Planet For Transients, The Builder, The Little Movement, The Impossible Planet, Progeny, Exhibit Piece, The Indefatigable Frog}}
• Moewig, pb, Tb3543, 1981, ?, ? (?){tr. onto German as EINE HANDVOLL DUNKELHEIT}{Contents: Planet For Transients, Prominent Author, The Builder, The Little Movement, The Preserving Machine, The Impossible Planet, The Indefatigable Frog, The Turning Wheel, Progeny, The Cookie Lady, Captive Market, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Upon The Dull Earth, Exhibit Piece, War Game, The Crawlers, War Veteran, Top Stand-by Job, If There Were No Benny Cemoli, Retreat Syndrome, Pay For The Printer, What The Dead Men Say}{This is a combination of A HANDFUL OF DARKNESS and THE PRESERVING MACHINE}
• Delta SF, ?, ?, ?, Hft50 (?) {tr. into Swedish as EN HANDFULL MORKER}

CONTENTS:

• Colony
• Impostor
• Expendable
• Planet For Transients
• Prominent Author
• The Builder
• Impossible Planet
• The Indefatigable Frog
• The Turning Wheel
• Progeny
• Upon The Dull Earth
• The Cookie Lady
• Exhibit Piece

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Ken Lopez, Bookseller Catalog

. DICK, Philip K. A Handful of Darkness. London: Rich & Cowan, (1955). First. Signed. First edition, a collection of stories, and Dick's first book to be published in a hardcover edition (this precedes the English publication of his first book, {SOLAR LOTTERY} later published in the U.K. as World of Chance). This copy, in heavy orange boards (no dust jacket), is the copy that Dick's bibliographer saw and mentioned as either a later binding state or a privately rebound copy of the second state of the book. {See below}He suggested it was the latter, and we would concur. Inscribed by the author to Tim and Serena Powers: "To Tim & Serena/with love/ Philip K. Dick." An excellent association copy of his rare first hardcover. $2,500  {As far as I know, Apr 1999, this is still for sale}

Levack 40

{ Rich & Cowan, hb, , Aug 1955, 216pp, 10/6d (Rudland)}

Bound in dark blue paper boards with silver lettering and spaceship logo on the spine. States "First Published - 1955" on the copyright page with no other indications of editions or printings. No date on the title page. According to L.W.Currey there is a second binding state with orange paper boards and black lettering on the spine. The compiler saw a third state consisting of very heavy orange boards with black lettering on the spine, but the spaceship logo had been replaced by the publisher's logo (a stylized lion) on the spine. It is not known if this was issued by the publisher or was privately rebound from the second binding state. The latter case is more likely. Also, according to L.W.Currey there exists a later dust-jacket state listing Dick's WORLD OF CHANCE, which has been observed on both of the first two binding states. Currey indicates that the blue binding has priority.

SF EYE

Vol.1, #2, Aug 1987, p48

(PKD:) "In June of 1953 I published 27 stories and about as many the next year. In June 1953 I had seven short stories on the stands simultaneously, but no American publisher had approached me to do a collection. This was before I had done any novels and Rich & Cowan in England approached me with the idea of putting out a collection of stories." [i.e. A HANDFULL OF DARKNESS]

(RL:) How did they contact you? Did they come through your agent?

(PKD:) Yeah, through Scott Meredith. They bought SOLAR LOTTERY, my first novel, and brought it out as WORLD OF CHANCE. But they brought it out in a truncated form. They insisted that a great deal be deleted from it. I did, in fact, make a different version of SOLAR LOTTERY for them. It's quite different from the US version. But they just simply contacted me through Scott, which was easy enough."
{PKD interview with Richard Lupoff}

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