This one is the real original edition. Compiled by Frank Zappa, artwork by Cal Schenkel.

beatbooks.com:

Los Angeles: DiscReet Records, 1974. Press kit, consisting of a glossy paper-covered staple-bound booklet (4to., 32pp.), reprinting press cuttings and ephemera relating to The Mothers from the years 1962-1974. Lower cover flap contains a loosely inserted folded chart printing a complete listing of The Mothers' personnel, from Group 1 (1964-66) up to Group 9 (1974), with an album discography. Two glossy 8x10 prints reproduce b/w photos of seven of the group's incarnations, with record label and management info printed along the lower edge. The booklet spawned later bootleg editions, notably from Babylon Books in Manchester (see below). This original is of a better print quality and considerably scarcer.

An illustrated compendium of press cuttings and ephemera. Content is available @ Information Is Not Knowledge.

Half of the contents is bootlegged from the original issue above.

Babylon Books in Manchester, UK was run by John Muir. The author of this book is not mentioned. A similar book The Lives and Times of Captain Beefheart by Babylon Books was compiled by David Britton. Often the Babylon books are credited to John Muir only.

Banned, Torn and Quartered: The Story of Savoy

On the subject of packaging (though “not really in the realm of ‘packaging’ but more a labour of love”) Britton edited and assembled The Lives and Times of Captain Beefheart (1977) for John Muir’s BABYLON BOOKS. He was partly responsible for Babylon’s Frank Zappa book. “Dave also gave Morrissey quite a lot of information that Morrissey, as author, eventually put into Babylon’s James Dean book.”

The Story of Savoy about David Britton and John Muir:

He [David Britton] was partly responsible for Babylon's Frank Zappa book.

...

Sitting outside Sinclairs pub in Manchester town centre, during the warmer months of 1991, the author was exchanging talk with a friend over a few beers. When the conversation got round to Frank Zappa and his Studio Z recording studio, a bearded guy, somewhat dishevelled in appearance, made his way over. "Studio Z? Frank Zappa?" he said, drunkenly. It turned out the guy was drunk, but he also knew a lot about the subject at hand. Telling us he was fresh back from the hippie trail in India, he introduced himself as John Muir, Mr Babylon Books, and told us he now lived in Todmorden where the locals referred to him as "Mad Jack" and Hell's Angels were after him.

Book scans

Same content as 1st edition, 4 pages less.

New cover design and layout and contents differ from the earlier editions. (45 pages are from 1st edition, 15 pages are new.)

Same as 3rd edition, 16 pages less.

Booklet that comes with the ten disk boxed set "The History and Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention." (1964-1973)

This is a 10-LP box, with a 36-page (counting the cover) booklet called Ten Years on the Road with Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (which may also have been sold separately?) consisting of reproductions of various newspaper, magazine and other articles. The Zappa Patio

Contents similar to the above (possibly an American bookleg of the Babylon Books edition). beatbooks.com

From 36 pages (incl. cover) 31 are from 1st (or 3rd) edition, 5 are new, not present on any of 4 editions above.

The Zappa Patio

Booklet identical to the previous booklet above. The only differences are front and back cover. On the back cover is an article "Zappa: Continuity Is the Mother's Mother" by Barry Hansen (Dr.Demento) from Rolling Stone, July 4, 1974.