By now you all should know that I Am Legend debuted as a paperback original from Gold Medal in the US in 1954, and that the first hardcover sprang out of Italy in 1957. But which country/publisher was the first to jump on the I Am Legend bandwagon?
If you guessed France, you're correct. And the publisher, Denoel, has remained the publisher of the novel in French editions for the past 70 years. We have 16 different French editions in the archive, and are aware of at least three more.
I Am Legend was the 10th book in Denoel's Présence du Futur (Presence of the Future) line.
This first French edition was published as an oversized paperback with a glassline wrapper. This long-sought-after copy is in amazing condition, with the wrapper intact and in wonderful shape. (We have similar edition of The Shrinking Man — L'homme qui rétrécit from Denoel; it shares a similar trade dress, with a different color swatch, and that example was an advance review copy originating from Matheson's personal library.)
I do love the fact that due to local regulatory requirements, foreign editions often have valuable bibliographic information, including printing dates and in some cases, print runs. The printing of this first edition was completed on October 18, 1955. This second edition of Matheson's novel published worldwide was the only edition published that year. We'll talk about where the next version was published in a future installment.
Be sure to check back next week for another item from the I Am Legend Archive!
