The original Principia Discordia.

[Kai]

This being the 4th Edition, March 1970, San Francisco; a revision of the 3rd Edition of 500 copies, whomped together in Tampa 1969; which revised the 2nd Edition of 100 copies from Los Angeles 1969; which was a revision of PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA or HOW THE WEST WAS LOST published in New Orleans in 1965 in five copies, which were mostly lost.

Has anyone ever heard what happened to these earlier editions and if any copies survive? La Wik mentions

In 1978, a copy of a work from Kerry Thornley titled "THE PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA or HOW THE WEST WAS LOST" was placed in the HSCA JFK collections as document 010857 [1]. A scan of this document has been identified as the first edition and uploaded to 23ae.com. The record identifier can be found by searching for Thornley and Discordian on nara.gov.

However, I can't find it on 23ae. I'm interested, because of historical significance as an artifact, and to compare the first with the latest editions and see if any parts have mutated.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Huh.

First I'm hearing of it. I just assumed those other editions were either lost, or flat out made up.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

nara search turns up nothing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Maybe contact St. Mae and see if she knows anything about the copy alleged to have been uploaded to 23ae?

[Placid Dingo]

Sondra London knew Kerry Thornley. Could help?

[Telarus]

I've read a scan of the 1st Ed PD (How the West was Lost). It's how I figured out how to resurrect the Official Discordian Document Numbering System. Interested parties can PM me.

2nd/3rd editions have been nearly-if-not-entirely lost.

[Cramulus]

Rev DrJon Swabey is working on digitizing his 1st edition copy.

you can read a note about it here: http://appendix.23ae.com/

he's dragging his damn feet though!

[AFK]

I wondered if that was legit or if it was just a mythology that Thornley was making up to ramp up the mysticism. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

According to most of the early Discordians I've talked to the early editions were basically short runs and passed out to friends. There weren't any 'published' editions (in the traditional sense of the word) until the later editions. There is a scanned version of the first ed kicking around. Chunks of it were put on Scribd by Rev. St Syn: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27611396/Principia-Discordia-1st-Edition

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Having messed around a little bit with self-publication, I can't imagine there not being some early versions before the 4e we all know and love was completed.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Rev DrJon Swabey is working on digitizing his 1st edition copy.

you can read a note about it here: http://appendix.23ae.com/

he's dragging his damn feet though!

Dude, it should only take about 20 minutes to scan the damn thing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Never mind, I see now that it had some legibility issues so it's not just scanning, but also deciphering it. I'd still like to see straight-up scans of the original though.

I would also like to face-kick whoever stole my yellow edition.

[Kai]

Thanks everybody. I'm glad there's still at least one copy around.

[Cramulus]

I shot swabey a note to reminding him to get on it!

[Triple Zero]

Never mind, I see now that it had some legibility issues so it's not just scanning, but also deciphering it. I'd still like to see straight-up scans of the original though.

I would also like to face-kick whoever stole my yellow edition.

Are we talking about the 1st edition? It's been scanned and transcribed for a long time already. It's just that he hit a snag with copyright or something or other because it doesn't say it's Kopyleft and therefore belongs to the Thornley estate, or something:

http://appendix.23ae.com/pd1/after.html

The scanned+transcribed PD1 was hosted there for quite a while before he decided to pull the links.