Publication History
- 1934, The American Magazine, abridged as "Point of Death," November 1934
- 1934, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, October 24, 1934, hardcover
- In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, Otto Penzler describes the "notoriously rare" first edition of Fer-de-Lance: "Black cloth, front cover and spine stamped with gold lettering; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly black, pink and green pictorial dust wrapper … As is true of all the Nero Wolfe novels published by Farrar & Rinehart, the first edition may be identified by the appearance of the publisher's monogram logo on the copyright page. If no logo appears on the copyright page the book is a later printing."
- Farrar & Rinehart issued a second printing in December 1934, and a third printing in October 1935.
- In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Fer-de-Lance had a value of $15,000 and up. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
- 1934, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1934, hardcover
- 1934, Brooklyn, NY: Junior Book Club, 1934, hardcover
- 1935, London: Cassell, 1935, hardcover
- 1936, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, June 1936, hardcover
- 1941, New York: Pocket Books, July 1941, paperback
- New York: Lawrence E. Spivak, Mercury Mystery #37, not dated, abridged as "Meet Nero Wolfe," paperback
- 1953, Verdict, June–October 1953, paperback
- 1955, London: Penguin, 1955, paperback
- 1958, New York: Dell Great Mystery Library, March 1958, paperback
- 1964, New York: Pyramid (Green Door), February 1964, paperback
- 1965, New York: Viking, Royal Flush (with Murder by the Book and Three Witnesses), July 23, 1965, hardcover
- 1970, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1970, hardcover
- 1992, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-27819-3 February 1992, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by Loren D. Estleman and back matter including a reprint of Rex Stout's confidential memo of September 15, 1949, describing Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin and Wolfe's office
- 1998, New York: Otto Penzler Books (Otto Penzler's First Edition Library) ISBN 1-883402-17-4 February 1998, hardcover (facsimile first edition)
- 2004, Auburn, California: The Audio Partners Publishing Corp., Mystery Masters ISBN 1-57270-388-1 May 2004, audio CD (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
- 2008, New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group (with The League of Frightened Men) ISBN 0-553-38545-3 June 2008, paperback
- 2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 978-0-307-75592-6 July 21, 2010, e-book
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