There was left the mysterious Second Foundation, the goal of all searches. The Mule must find it to make his conquest of the Galaxy complete. The faithful of what was left of the First Foundation must find it for quite another reason. But where was it? That no one knew.
—"Prologue"
Second Foundation is a collection of two The Foundation Trilogy stories edited into a cohesive Novel for Gnome Press publication in 1953, and reprinted many times since. Avon published it with a modified title, 2nd Foundation: Galactic Empire.
Second Foundation works:
- Prologue
- "Search by the Mule"
- "Search by the Foundation"
Second Foundation provides examples of:
- Billed Above the Title:
- The 1964 and 1965 Panther editions puts the author, title, and tagline in the top third of the cover, making each one in successively smaller font.
- The 1968 Panther edition puts "asimov" at the top of the cover (but below the publisher credits) and includes the title at one-third the font size of the author's name.
- The 1965 German translation (by Heyne) for Second Foundation includes Dr Asimov's name on the top of the cover, with their title, Alle Wege fuhren nach Trantor, in slightly larger font.
- The 1975 Panther edition puts "asimov" at the top of the cover (but below the publisher credits) and includes the title at one-quarter the font size of the author's name.
- The 1976 Bruguera edition, a Spanish translation, puts "ASiMOV" at the top, taking up almost a quarter of the cover, before fitting the title between the author and cover image.
- The 1979 Denoel edition puts "isaac asimov" at the top of the cover (but below the publisher series credits) and includes the title at twice the font size of the author's name.
- The Del Rey cover from 1983 makes "Isaac" three times as large as the title, and "Asimov" twice as large again.
- The Del Rey cover from 1986 puts their tagline on the top of the cover, then Dr Asimov's name, and in slightly smaller font below that is the title of this book.
- The Bantam Spectra cover from 1991 puts "ASIMOV" on the top of the cover, then their tagline in much smaller font, and then the title of this book in slightly larger font than the tagline, so that this can be fit in the top quarter of the cover to leave space for the cover art.
- The Harper Collins cover from 1995 puts "Isaac" on top, at roughly the same font size of the title (which is on the bottom of the cover, just above the tagline), and "ASIMOV" is about four times as large, covering a third of the cover.
- Covers Always Lie: Nobody goes on an EVA (extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk) like is depicted on the 1958 cover from Digit Books.
- Dedication: This book is dedicated to his sister Marcia Asimov, his often-editor John W. Campbell, and his brother Stanley Asimov.To Marcia, John, and Stan
- In Space, Everyone Can See Your Face: The 1958 cover from Digit Books shows a man in a spacesuit performing an EVA with two dart-like spaceships. His helmet is a big bubble, without any solar shielding.
- Market-Based Title:
- The 1965 German translation (by Heyne) for Second Foundation is Alle Wege fuhren nach Trantor, in English, this is equivalent to All Roads lead to Trantor.
- The 1971 Italian translation (by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore) for Second Foundation is L'altra faccia della spirale, in English, this is equivalent to The other side of the spiral.
- The 1979 Denoel edition changes the titles to the two parts. "Search by the Mule" is titled "Bail Channis" and "Search by the Foundation" is titled "Arcadia Darell". Each title is for one of the two protagonists (in that story) that leaves Terminus to find the Second Foundation.
- The Namesake: The title refers to an organization that had been left deliberately vague up until now. Hari Seldon supposedly established two Foundations; one on Terminus and the other on the opposite end of the galaxy. Not only are the Mule and the Foundation on Terminus (usually called the Foundation or the First Foundation) looking for them, but they must be turned into protagonist characters so that the audience can root for their victory over the Mule. At the end, the true location of the Second Foundation is finally revealed.
- Previously on…: The book is prefaced by a Prologue, which summarizes the events from Foundation (1951) and Foundation and Empire.
- Retro Rocket: The 1958 cover from Digit Books shows a pair of thin, dart-like spaceships to emphasize its futuristic events. Nobody goes on an EVA like is depicted on the cover.
- Tagline:
- "A stupendous story of the future by a master of science fiction writing" — Digit Books' cover from 1958
- "A brilliant scientist plots the course of future cosmic history — to save earth's galaxy from destruction!" — Avon's 2nd Foundation: Galactic Empire cover from 1958
- "The Great Science Fiction Novel" — Avon's cover from 1964
- "They had conquered a Universe … oblivious of the menace in their midst" — Panther's cover from 1964
- "The most terrifying menace known to man threatened the hard-won victories of a new civilization" — Avon's cover from 1966
- "Book Three of the Foundation Trilogy, awarded the Hugo as Best Series Ever!" — Del Rey's cover from 1983, used again in 1986
- "The third book in the epic Foundation saga" — Panther's cover from 1984
- "The Foundation Novels" — Bantam Spectra's cover from 1991
- "The third volume in the world-famous Foundation saga" — Harper Collins cover from 1995
- What Other Galaxies?: Enforced. The stories originally handle the difference between the Milky Way galaxy and the universe (including multiple galaxies) correctly, but Taglines and back cover blurbs from Panther and Avon conflate the two as if they were synonymous.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The primary plotline of both stories is centered around the Second Foundation desperately trying to get the plan back on track after the Mule broke it half in the previous book. Second Foundationers themselves come across as nervous at several points because they are just barely trying to make this work by the seat of their pants. Case in point the entire fate of the Galaxy depends on correct choice of words the First Speaker uses against the Mule. Later, the maneuvers the Secound Foundation had to pull off in Search by the Foundation ultimately end up not being sufficient to get things fully on track which ends up causing issues by Foundation's Edge
