I Am Legend (18/54) - Bantam J2744 (1964)

Before The Last Man On Earth was released in 1964, I Am Legend had only been available in the United States from Gold Medal (the first edition ten years earlier in 1954, and a 'Second Big Printing!' in 1957). By 1964, Bantam (who had published paperback editions of Matheson's first short story collections in the 1950s) had obtained the rights and published their own edition in March. It would be their one and only edition of the novel, and it arrived within striking distance of the release of the Vincent Price film. Though there's no specific mention of a film release, if there's any doubt that it's unofficially a tie-in, one need only flip the book over and read the back cover copy. 

The cover art is by Sandy Kossin (whose signature is clipped on the front, yet intact on the back), and rendered in black and white. Coincidence, or one more nod to the film that would be in theaters shortly after the book's release. 

The Bantam paperback was the second copy (after the SF Book Club hardcover) and first paperback of I Am Legend that I would own; the foundation of what would evolve into the I Am Legend Archive. Oddly enough, like my first hardcover, it was also procured at a Flea Market (at the Ashby Bart Station in Berkeley), and also only 25 cents! 

Like the Gold Medal first printing, I have a copy of the Bantam paperback inscribed to me by Richard Matheson, obtained at the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback show that Peter and I have attended for the better part of the past 30 years.

And now for the bonus portion of this post. 

I was quite surprised to stumble across this unique variation of the Bantam paperback on eBay in the UK, with a "2/6" price sticker that didn't appear to be a second-hand label. Could the Bantam paperback have had some sort of distribution in the UK? Needless to say, I jumped on it. I have since seen another copy online with an identical label, further convincing me that this had to be some sort of authorized import.

I knew that I Am Legend had been published in the UK by Corgi Books from 1956 through 1977, as I had acquired each of the Corgi editions (dating from 1956, 1960, 1962, 1971, and 1977). As I was initially collecting them, I never gave much consideration to the 9-year gap between the third and fourth Corgi editions. It was only after I stumbled across the UK-stickered 1964 Bantam paperback that I realized it seemed to fill that gap in the UK publication history. And the price point matches that of the 1960 and 1962 Corgi editions — also "2/6." I was inspired to do a little internet searching, which led me to discover that Corgi was founded in 1950 as the UK arm of Bantam Books, Inc. So too much data for it all to be coincidental, right? It leads me to believe that the Bantam paperback was also available to UK readers in the time between the third and fourth Corgi paperbacks. 

Be sure to check back next week for another item from the I Am Legend Archive!