The Anarchist Cookbook has remained in print, in one form or another, for decades. That creates an identification problem: many copies say 1971, but relatively few are from the original publication, and fewer still are the scarce cloth-bound issue in its dust jacket.
This guide concerns William Powell's book as a collectible artifact. It does not reproduce or evaluate its instructional content.
The original 1971 edition
William Powell's The Anarchist Cookbook was published by Lyle Stuart, Inc. in New York in 1971, with an introductory essay by P. M. Bergman. The original edition appeared in both printed wrappers and a much scarcer hardcover issue.
A genuine 1971 copy should be checked as a complete bibliographical object. The copyright date by itself is not enough: later printings and reissues can retain the original date while adding a printing statement, a different publisher, a different address, or other altered production details.
The scarce hardcover issue
The hardcover first edition is bound in black cloth with the title lettered in pink on the spine. It contains 160 pages and was issued in a pictorial dust jacket. It is substantially scarcer than the wrapper-bound copies most often encountered.
The binding is not merely a later hardcover reprint. Collectors should confirm the Lyle Stuart imprint, the 1971 publication information, the absence of any later-printing statement, the 160-page collation, and the original black-cloth binding with pink spine lettering.
First edition is not always first printing
Original Lyle Stuart copies were reprinted, including additional printings made during 1971. A copy may therefore belong to the first edition while not being the first printing. Look carefully at the copyright page for an explicit printing statement. If a later printing is named, describe it as such even when the date remains 1971.
Internet discussions often emphasize isolated typographical errors or individual page points. Those can be useful supporting clues, but they should not replace the publisher, printing statement, binding, collation, and other evidence taken together.
Commonly confused copies
- Later Lyle Stuart printings: these may retain a 1971 copyright date but identify a subsequent printing.
- Barricade Books issues: the rights later passed to Barricade Books; these are not the 1971 Lyle Stuart first printing.
- Modern reprints: numerous later editions and unrelated works have circulated under the same or similar title.
- Original wrapper issue: a genuine early paperback can be collectible, but it should not be described as the scarce cloth-bound issue.
What matters to collectors
For the hardcover issue, the dust jacket has an outsized effect on desirability. Surviving jackets often have splits at the folds, loss at the spine ends, rubbing, soiling, or old repairs. A worn original jacket is still materially different from no jacket at all.
Other important condition points include:
- Wear or fraying to the black cloth, especially at the spine ends and corners.
- A firm binding and securely attached text block.
- Completeness of the 160-page text.
- Owner inscriptions, stamps, bookshop labels, or institutional markings.
- Restoration or reinforcement to the jacket, which should be disclosed.
Quick identification checklist
- William Powell, with an introduction by P. M. Bergman.
- Lyle Stuart, Inc., New York, 1971.
- No later-printing statement on the copyright page.
- 160 pages.
- For the hardcover issue: black cloth with pink spine lettering.
- Original pictorial dust jacket, when present.
- No later publisher or modern reprint information.
Most important: “Copyright 1971” does not, by itself, establish a first printing.
A first edition currently available
View the hardcover first edition, first printing currently offered by The Rare Book Sleuth.
Have an early copy to sell? Contact The Rare Book Sleuth.
References
- WorldCat record for The Anarchist Cookbook, Lyle Stuart, 1971.
- William Powell, “I wrote the Anarchist Cookbook in 1969. Now I see its premise as flawed”, The Guardian.
- Copy examined and photographed by The Rare Book Sleuth.