High Times #1 1 1

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

Seeing all the different prints of High Times #1 on eBay selling for around $35 to $100+, I thought I would post some items I've noticed on this issue. Seem most note 2 main printings the one dollar and the $1.50 variants. But I've found at least 4 printings and my 1st print is not actually a 1st print, but probably a 2nd print.

 

1st print appears to have "one dollar" cover price, "Premier Issue" in the corner and Summer 1974 under the H.

 

2nd print appears to have "one dollar" cover price and "Premier Issue" in the corner (my copy has the yellow subscription envelope still bound in).

 

3rd print appears to have "one dollar" cover price (with much more space between the High and the Times).

 

4th print appears to have "$1.50" cover price and "Premier Issue Collectors' Edition" in corner.

 

 

Here is the copyright notice on page 2 (UG page 4), with my 4th print above/on top of my 2nd print below.

 

Anyone have any further info. or corrections?

 

[ArAich]

Damn stoners playin' with your head...

[aardvark88]

Is the tantric union chapter illustrated by anyone infamous?

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

I've learned that the one listed as a 3rd print may have actually been a pre-release to vendors 1st print version with a card stock cover with less than 1,000 printed.

 

[divad]

Anyone have any further info. or corrections?

 

I'd pull out my copies to help . . . but I can't remember where I put them [insert spliff here]

[Jimmy Linguini]

I HAVE A FIRST PRINT OMG OMG OMG OMG

 

Thank you for starting this thread! So happy for verification!

[newshane]

I want one.

 

[Doohickamabob]

Love the cover art.

[Jimmy Linguini]

This is my favourite book of 2013

 

[Doohickamabob]

The cover photo looks like an early scene from "Debbie Does Fungus."

[budsbundy]

I've learned that the one listed as a 3rd print may have actually been a pre-release to vendors 1st print version with a card stock cover with less than 1,000 printed.

"The third" is actually the true first printing, with no banner in the upper left corner, and the heavy card stock cover. "one dollar" cover price

 

There are also two issues that have a banner saying "premier issue" in the upper left corner, one of which has "Summer 74" just under the title.

Both were also sold at a cover price of "one dollar"

Those are both second printings released shortly after the first but in a much larger run. I've heard one was for the USA, and the other Canada

 

The fourth printing(actually a reprint) came out a couple years later along with reprints of issues 2 and 3.

You can always tell a reprint by two things.

One is the addition of the words "Collectors edition" in the upper left corner banner, and two is the cover price of 1.50

 

I have all four.

 

 

 

 

[budsbundy]

This is my favourite book of 2013

 

That's the second printing.

Not nearly as rare as the first, but still very collectable, and not super easy to find like the reprint

 

Your copy looks very nice!

[comic_memories]

The cover photo looks like an early scene from "Debbie Does Fungus."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

Some would debate if a pre-release distributors copy is actually a first print since it's not widely distributed.

 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Slightly off topic but I have a first edition Lets Go Europe sent out to Harvard alumni in 1970. I've never seen another; another relic from the stone® age!

[rob_react]

From the source:

 

@robreact The one they call "3rd print" (with coverlines lined up top to bottom and no strip in top left corner) is actually 1st edition

 

Of course, he wasn't event born yet when the first one came out, but he's certainly in position to know.

[budsbundy]

Some would debate if a pre-release distributors copy is actually a first print since it's not widely distributed.

The way I heard it was that the first printing was a very small run, and ended up being way more successful than they imagined it would be, and sold out very fast, and because of that they did a much larger second printing with the cheaper cover paper.

 

High times is one of those mags where there is no one source to go to for facts about them, and values of individual issues, and as a result you hear all kinds of different stuff about them, and the prices are all over the place.

[mrtank]

I was told the 3rd printing that people are saying is the real 1st printing was actually the extended printing of the first and was mass produced with cardstock after they ran out of the original 1st.

[mrtank]

OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF HIGH TIMES ISSUE #1, THE ORIGINAL FIRST PRINT & THE REPRINTS

High Times First Issue - After spending countless hours researching this issue specifically, I stumbled upon the November 2009 issue of High Times Magazine with a dedicated section named:

"Will The Real First Issue Please Stand Up?"

High Times discusses the different versions and prints of the first High Times issue.

I have compiled the most important parts of the article below and also included a few scans of the actual article itself so there will be no question at all.

Here It Is, Straight From The Horse's Mouth:

The first print ever was released in a small batch of only 1,000.

The very first print has the "one dollar" price, but has nothing on the top left corner (no "premier issue" or anything else). The very first print does not say "summer 1974" under the High Times title either. The first issue also has a very reflective cover.

The second printing (reprint) has the "one dollar" price, "premier issue" printed in the top left corner and "summer 1974" under the High Times title.

The third and fourth prints (reprints) are explained further in the images I uploaded below.

For more information and details, see the images I uploaded below of the original article High Times posted in the November 2009 edition.

Hope this helps anyone wondering what they had and can put to rest many of the false claims that have been passed around (either on purpose or by mistake). I am sure the original poster was just posting the best information available to them at the time. 

Don't forget, there are also fakes out there. I have seen a few fakes of the first print. They looked exactly like the first print, but the front cover was not reflective. Read the article in the image below for more information on how to spot one of the original first 1,000 prints of Hight Times Issue #1.

Now we know for sure what the original first print looked like.

First Print:

Edited August 19, 2020 by mrtank
typo

[FoggyNelson]

Very interesting reading about High Times number ones👍‼️‼️😷