First Editions

53 books, 1948–2024; 11 best sellers

Register · First Editions · Key Texts for Mailer Studies · Bibliographies · Biographies · Criticism · Cultural Backgrounds

Mailer’s books in their first American editions, in order of publication. Each title opens its Work page, where the edition is described in full — dedication, printing, binding where it matters, and the book’s reception — and where later editions and reprints are noted.

An asterisk after a title marks a best seller (Lennon 2008, “Norman Mailer’s Best Sellers”). Abbreviations follow Lennon’s “Abbreviations of Books By and About Norman Mailer” (2008a) and are used throughout the edition; see the Glossary. The number is the book’s entry in Lennon and Lennon’s Works and Days. About gives the number of entries in the bibliography register — reviews, essays, chapters — written about the book.

Lennon’s own list of first editions appeared in The Mailer Review 2.1 (2008): 515–17.

1940s 1 1950s 4 1960s 11 1970s 14 1980s 5 1990s 5 2000s 7 2010s 4 2020s 2

1940s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1948-05-06	The Naked and the Dead* New York: Rinehart · novel	NAD	721	$4.00	48.2	36

1950s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1951-05-24	Barbary Shore* New York: Rinehart · novel	BS	312	$3.00	51.1	12
1955-10-14	The Deer Park* New York: Putnam · novel	DP	375	$4.00	55.4	17
1959	The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster San Francisco: City Lights Books · essay Usually dated 1957 (Adams 1974, p. 1; Lennon 1986, p. 219), but the pamphlet prints the 1958 "Reflections on Hipsterism" after the essay, and the evidence points to 1959.	WN	27	35¢	59.8a	—
1959-11-06	Advertisements for Myself New York: Putnam · miscellany	AFM	532	$5.00	59.13	17

1960s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1962-03-30	Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) New York: Putnam · poetry	DFL	252	$4.00	62.3	8
1963-11-08	The Presidential Papers New York: Putnam · miscellany	PP	310	—	63.37	10
1965-03-15	An American Dream* New York: Dial · novel	AAD	270	$4.95	65.7	26
1966-08-29	Cannibals and Christians New York: Dial · miscellany	CAC	400	$5.95	66.11	10
1967-05-11	The Short Fiction of Norman Mailer New York: Dell · collection Abbreviated SF in Adams 1974.	SFNM	285	95¢	67.11	—
1967-08-07	The Deer Park: A Play New York: Dial · play		192	$4.50	67.13	—
1967-09-15	Why Are We in Vietnam? New York: Putnam · novel Sometimes abbreviated WVN (Lennon 2008a).	WWVN	208	$4.95	67.15	17
1967-11	The Bullfight: A Photographic Narrative with Text by Norman Mailer New York: Macmillan · essay	BF	112	$7.95	67.20	—
1968-05-06	The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, the Novel as History New York: New American Library · nonfiction narrative	AON	317	$5.95	68.8	67
1968-06-06	The Idol and the Octopus: Political Writings on the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations New York: Dell · miscellany	IO	284	95¢	68.11	—
1968-10-24	Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968 New York: New American Library · nonfiction narrative	MSC	223	$5.95	68.25	20

1970s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1971-01-11	Of a Fire on the Moon Boston: Little, Brown · nonfiction narrative	OFM	472	$7.95	71.1	13
1971-04	King of the Hill: Norman Mailer on the Fight of the Century New York: New American Library · nonfiction narrative	KH	93	$1	71.15	—
1971-05-27	The Prisoner of Sex Boston: Little, Brown · essay	POS	240	$5.95	71.20	18
1971-10-01	Maidstone: A Mystery New York: New American Library · screenplay	MM	189	$1.50	71.28	—
1971-10-25	The Long Patrol: 25 Years of Writing from the Work of Norman Mailer New York: World · collection	LP	739	$15	71.29	—
1972-04-17	Existential Errands Boston: Little, Brown · miscellany	EE	365	$7.95	72.7	7
1972-10	St. George and the Godfather New York: New American Library · nonfiction narrative	SGG	229	$1.50	72.17	9
1973-08-01	Marilyn: A Biography; Pictures by the World's Foremost Photographers* New York: Grosset & Dunlap · biography	MAR	271	$19.95	73.30	15
1974-05-07	The Faith of Graffiti New York: Praeger · essay	FOG	96	$14.95	74.9	—
1975-07-21	The Fight Boston: Little, Brown · nonfiction narrative	FIG	239	$7.95	75.12	17
1976-04-01	Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960–1972 Boston: Little, Brown · anthology	SHM	499	$12.50	76.5	—
1976-10	Genius and Lust: A Journey through the Major Writings of Henry Miller New York: Grove · essay	GAL	576	$12.50	76.12	9
1978-03-29	A Transit to Narcissus New York: Howard Fertig · novel	TTN	820	$100	78.2	—
1979-10-15	The Executioner's Song* Boston: Little, Brown · nonfiction narrative	ES	1056	$16.95	79.14	27

1980s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1980-11-26	Of Women and Their Elegance New York: Simon & Schuster · novel	OWE	288	$29.95	80.15	—
1982-06-21	Pieces and Pontifications Boston: Little, Brown · miscellany	PAP	400	$20	82.16	8
1983-04-04	Ancient Evenings* Boston: Little, Brown · novel	AE	709	$19.95	83.18	28
1984-08-20	Tough Guys Don't Dance* New York: Random House · novel	TGD	229	$16.95	84.17	16
1988-07-31	Conversations with Norman Mailer Jackson: University Press of Mississippi · collection	CNM	396	$26.95	88.6	—

1990s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
1991-10-02	Harlot's Ghost* New York: Random House · novel	HG	1310	$30	91.26	19
1995-05-12	Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery New York: Random House · nonfiction narrative	OT	828	$30	95.16	15
1995-10-15	Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man: An Interpretive Biography New York: Atlantic Monthly Press · biography	POP	400	$35	95.38	11
1997-05-02	The Gospel According to the Son* New York: Random House · novel	GAS	224	$22	97.13	15
1998-05-06	The Time of Our Time New York: Random House · anthology Sometimes abbreviated TOT (Lennon 2008a).	TOOT	1286	$39.50	98.7	10

2000s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
2003-01-31	The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing New York: Random House · miscellany	SA	330	$24.95	03.7	8
2003	Modest Gifts: Poems and Drawings New York: Random House · poetry	MG	275	$14.95	03.17	—
2003-04-07	Why Are We at War? New York: Random House · essay	WWW	111	$7.99	03.18	—
2004	Norman Mailer's Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969 Shavertown, PA: Sligo Press · letters	LAD	—	—	04.7	—
2006-02	The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America New York: Nation Books · conversations	BE	218	$14.95	06.2	—
2007-01-23	The Castle in the Forest* New York: Random House · novel	CIF	—	—	07.10	14
2007-10-16	On God: An Uncommon Conversation New York: Random House · conversations	OG	—	—	07.39	2

2010s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
2013-10-15	Mind of an Outlaw: Selected Essays of Norman Mailer New York: Random House · collection	MO	—	—	13.1	—
2014-12-02	The Selected Letters of Norman Mailer New York: Random House · letters	SLNM	—	—	14.3	—
2018-02	Norman Mailer: Four Books of the 1960s New York: Library of America · collection		937	$45.00	—	—
2018-02	Norman Mailer: Collected Essays of the 1960s New York: Library of America · collection		525	$35.00	—	—

2020s

Date	Title	Abbr.	Pages	Price	No.	About
2023	A Mysterious Country: The Grace and Fragility of American Democracy New York: Arcade · anthology		312	—	—	2
2024-06-25	Lipton's, A Marijuana Journal: 1954–1955 New York: Arcade · journal		408	—	—	—