Dragonsdawn is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the ninth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series, but chronologically it takes place before any of the other books. It was published in 1988, by Del Rey in the US and Bantam in the UK. UK editions have had various subtitles: Dragonsdawn: The First Chronicles of the Colony of Pern (Bantam, 1988), Dragonsdawn: The earliest legend of Pern (Corgi, 1995).