This book was published on July 24, 1964 by Canaveral Press. The words "First Edition" appear on the copyright page. The first state of the first edition has an error in that it states the title as being "John Carter and the Giants of Mars" on both the cover and the spine. The second state corrects this error and lists the title as "John Carter of Mars" (see photos below).

The boards of this book were published in various colors as shown above. The lettering on the first state is black and the second state is gold. The dust jacket and 8 interior illustrations and both endpapers were done by Reed Crandall.

The dust jacket is identical from the first to the second state with one exception; the first state dust jacket has $3.50 printed on the upper right corner of the inside front flap (photo at right) whereas the second state does not have a price stamped on it.

The book consists of two stories, the first is "John Carter and the Giant of Mars" which was actually written by John Coleman Burroughs for Big Little Books and revised and lengthened by Edgar Rice Burroughs for publication in the pulp "Amazing Stories". The second story, "Skelton Men of Jupitar" is unrelated to the first part, but does involve John Carter.

The photos of the book below are of the first state. The dust jacket was originally from a second state book as it was in better condition that the original. Note the absence of a price on the flap.