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I have taken the same approach to collections of Ballard's short stories as for his novels. That is, I have listed both U.K. and U.S. first editions in hardback, as well as paperback editions but only where a paperback is the first edition in any format in the relevant country. I have also listed a small number of other editions that are of particular interest.
Where a collection was first published in paperback format, it may well have been re-
For details of which stories were included in each collection, see here.
THE VOICES OF TIME AND OTHER STORIES
The first collection of Ballard's short stories, whose only publication was in a U.S. paperback edition by Berkley. There was a later reprint (1966), which had a completely different cover. Note that the title The Voices of Time was used for an entirely different U.K. collection more than two decades later.
Berkley, p/b, 1962
BILLENIUM
A second collection from Berkley in 1962, again only ever issued as a U.S. paperback.
Berkley, p/b, 1962
THE FOUR-
The first collection published in the U.K. and one with a confusing subsequent history. The first edition was a hardback from Gollancz in 1963, and contained eight stories, of which two (including 'The Voices of Time') had appeared in the U.S. collection The Voices of Time and Other Stories. A second edition appeared from Gollancz in 1974 with two stories being changed; this later version now contained three stories in common with The Voices of Time and Other Stories. The 1974 edition was re-
The Four-
Gollancz, 1963
Science Fiction Book Club, 1964
Gollancz, 1985
PASSPORT TO ETERNITY
A third U.S. paperback-
Berkley, p/b, 1963
TERMINAL BEACH
The fourth paperback collection published by Berkley in the U.S., and not to be confused with the similarly titled U.K. collection.
Berkley, p/b, 1964
his U.K. hardback from Gollancz is a completely different collection from the Berkley paperback Terminal Beach, with which it shares only two stories. Four of Ballard's short stories had their first publication in this collection: The Delta at Sunset, The Drowned Giant, The Gioconda of the Twilight Noon, and The Volcano Dances. There was a second printing in 1965, so it's worth noting that the first printing has the code "X27" on the bottom right corner of the rear of the dust jacket.
Gollancz reissued The Terminal Beach in the mid-
Gollancz, 1964
THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN AND OTHER STORIES
The fifth Berkley U.S. collection of Ballard's short stories in five years. Three short stories appeared in print for the first time in this volume: The Day of Forever, The Impossible Man, and Storm Bird, Storm Dreamer.
Berkley, p/b, 1966
THE DAY OF FOREVER
First publication was as a U.K. paperback by Panther in 1967. Panther published a second paperback edition in 1971, with a different cover and one story dropped and another story added. There was a U.K. hardback edition (which reverted to the original contents) but not until the mid-
Panther, p/b, 1967
Gollancz, 1986
A U.K. hardback collection from Cape in 1967. This is another book where the spine is particularly prone to fading. The Disaster Area was reissued by Cape in 1984 with a completely different cover.
Cape, 1967
Another collection that appeared only as a paperback in the U.K., from Panther in 1967. There was a second printing in 1971, with a completely different front cover.
Panther, p/b, 1967
Of all Ballard's books, this one has the most complex publishing history. The component stories had been originally published in the latter half of the 1960s, mainly in magazines such as New Worlds and Ambit. The first book appearance was actually a Danish translation by Jannick Storm, with the title Grusomhedsudstillingen (Copenhagen: Rhodos, 1969). Storm had visited England in the late-
The first English-
The first U.S. edition was to have been by Doubleday, also in 1970, but the entire edition was destroyed just prior to publication, with the exception of a few advance review copies and file copies. Senior management at Doubleday had taken exception to the contents, which included Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan and Plan for the Assassination of Jacqueline Kennedy. It isn't clear exactly how many copies still survive (perhaps around a dozen), but this is certainly the rarest of Ballard's books; there was a copy for sale in 2006 by bookseller Lloyd Currey for $7,500. In addition to the fifteen stories that comprised the Cape edition, Doubleday had included drawings by Michael Foreman, a dedication 'To the insane', and an interview with Ballard by George Macbeth (which had originally been broadcast on BBC radio, and which had first appeared in print in the book The New SF, edited by Langdon Jones). Had this edition been released on its scheduled date, then it would have been the first English language publication, preceding the Cape edition by one month.
Following the pulping of the Doubleday edition, E. P. Dutton took the book up, but eventually decided against publication after advice from their lawyers. The first U.S. publication was therefore not until 1972 when Grove Press published the book under the revised title Love & Napalm: Export U.S.A., with a preface by William Burroughs. This edition went out of print fairly quickly, and the book did not reappear in the U.S. until 1990 when Re/Search brought out a large format, extensively illustrated, paperback edition. This reverted to the original title and retained the Burroughs introduction; it also added sidebar annotations by Ballard, as well as four additional pieces -
The sidebar annotations (but not any of the illustrations) were included in a U.K. large format paperback edition by Harper Collins/Flamingo in 1993; of the additional stories included by Re/Search, only Princess Margaret's Facelift and Mae West's Reduction Mamoplasty were incorporated in this U.K. edition. Later Flamingo editions were normal size paperbacks, which meant that the annotations were relegated to separate sections at the end of each chapter.
Grusomhedsudstillingen: Rhodos, p/b, 1969
Cape, 1970
Doubleday, 1970 (destroyed)
Grove Press, 1972
Re/Search, 1990
Harper Collins/Flamingo, p/b, 1993
This volume collected Ballard's stories set in the resort of 'Vermilion Sands'. It first appeared as a U.S. paperback by Berkley in 1971, and was then published by Cape in the U.K. as a hardback in 1973. The Cape edition adds one story to the contents of the original Berkley edition.
Some of the stories in the Cape edition included minor changes to the text, in order to obtain a more consistent style for stories that had been written several years apart.
Berkley, p/b, 1971
Cape, 1973
CHRONOPOLIS AND OTHER STORIES
Issued in hardback by Putnam in the U.S. in 1971; there was never any U.K. edition of this collection. There was however a U.S. book club edition.
Putnam, 1971
LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT AND OTHER STORIES
A U.K. collection from Cape in 1976, which included the first publication of the story The Ultimate City.
Cape, 1976
THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF J. G. BALLARD
A U.K. 'best of', in paperback, published in 1977. Rather oddly, the title page says The Best of J. G. Ballard, omitting the words 'Science Fiction'.
Orbit/Futura, p/b, 1977
THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF J. G. BALLARD
And in 1978, a 'best of' in the U.S., this time in simultaneous hardback and paperback.
Holt Rinehart, 1978
THE VENUS HUNTERS
First published in 1980 as a paperback in the U.K. by Granada, this collection also came out as a U.K. hardback in 1986 as part of Gollancz's series of Ballard re-
Granada, p/b, 1980
Gollancz, 1986
A collection gathering together most of Ballard's new stories that had appeared over the previous few years, as well as the first publication of the title story. Published in the U.K. by Cape in 1982.
Russell's Guide to First Edition Prices refers to a U.S. edition by Farrar Straus in 1991, but I have never seen a copy listed anywhere, and this is most likely a confusion with the U.S. edition of War Fever, which most certainly was published by Farrar Straus in 1991.
Cape, 1982
MEMORIES OF THE SPACE AGE
A themed collection of Ballard's ‘astronaut stories', published by Arkham House in the U.S. in 1988, and which included a number of full page illustrations by Jeffrey K. Potter.
Arkham House, 1988
War Fever contains most of Ballard's stories from the mid-
Collins, 1990
First published in the U.K. by Flamingo in 2001. This original one-
Despite its title, the book does not include all of Ballard's short stories. If we discount those that are shortened versions of Ballard's novels (Storm-
In 2006, The Complete Short Stories was republished in two paperback volumes by HarperPerennial, but omitting the novella The Ultimate City.
A U.S. edition, with the slightly revised title of The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, was published by W. W. Norton in September 2009. This volume incorporates all of the stories from the original Flamingo volume and adds The Secret Autobiography of J. G. B****** (re-
Farrar Straus, 1991
Flamingo, 2001
Norton, 2009