First Lensman is a space opera novel by American author E. E. Smith. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5995 copies. It is, in terms of internal chronology, the second novel in the Lensman series, but the sixth (or fifth) written by Smith. (Smith had originally written Triplanetary as an unrelated work, but then rewrote it to fit into the series.) Source: Wikipedia (en)