We present a new electronic version of the first volume of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS), fourth edition, which contains data on 10558 variable stars in Andromeda - Crux (the constellations are ordered in the Catalog according to the Latin alphabet). This version incorporates the name lists of variable stars from no.67 to no.76 for the same constellations. The main distinctive feature of the new version is that it provides improved equatorial J2000.0 coordinates for 10351 stars (including those for 4592 stars corrected for proper motions). These are based on identifications with positional catalogs using finding charts and on our new measurements. We searched for a number of stars on original plates from the plate collections of several observatories. So far we have failed to determine accurate coordinates for 207 variable stars, because there are no finding charts and because the information for star identification is insufficient. The version also includes a file of remarks to the first GCVS volume and a preliminary version of the file of bibliographic references to the entire fourth edition of the GCVS. Apart from a complete update of the positional information, the new version incorporates all the other corrections that were found to be necessary after the first GCVS volume was published (1985). Introduction: The file vol1.dat ------------------- The main table (vol1.dat) of the new electronic version of volume I of the GCVS contains information on 10558 objects (not counting the stars that were erroneously named for the second time or proved to be nonexistent) in Andromeda - Crux, which are mostly variable stars of our Galaxy discovered and named before 2001; i.e., it covers the variable stars that were included in the fourth edition of the GCVS and name lists nos. 67 - 76 (for the same constellations). The structure of the main table corresponds to that of the combined table of the GCVS 4th edition and the name lists (Kholopov et al. 1998; see also www.sai.msu.su/groups/cluster/gcvs/gcvs/iii/). The differences between these tables are as follows: (1) Instead of B1950.0 coordinates, we provide new improved equatorial J2000.0 coordinates. (2) The most recent name lists, up to no. 76, were included. (3) We included all the corrections and changes that were found necessary during our work on the GCVS in other columns of the main table, in references, and in remarks. Note that for stars that had no published finding charts but that we identified with the GSC or with the US Naval Observatory (USNO) A1.0/A2.0 catalogs, we now give a symbol of the corresponding catalog (GSC, USNO) as a reference to the finding chart. The main table is presented in the form traditional for the GCVS, i.e., in the order of constellations and variable-star names adopted in the GCVS. The table includes the following information: equatorial J2000.0 coordinates (right ascensions to within 0.1s and declinations to within 1"), variability types, magnitudes at maximum and minimum light, photometric magnitude systems, periods of light variations, durations of brightness rise from minimum to maximum of eclipse durations, spectral types, and bibliography. For the stars from name lists no. 67 - 76 published after the appearance of the GCVS 4th edition, we provide not all columns of the table but only coordinates, variability types, magnitudes, and bibliography; the missing data will be added to the 5th edition of the GCVS. The file vol1_pos.dat --------------------- For 10351 variable stars, our version provides new equatorial J2000.0 coordinates (right ascensions to within 0.01s and declinations to within 0.1"), for 4592 stars with allowance for their proper motions. The table vol1_pos.dat provides positional information based on our identifications with major astrometric catalogs, on published data, or on our new measurements (see below) for 10351 stars of the new version of volume I (including stars of the new name lists in the same constellations). The order of stars in this table is the same as that in the main table. The files rem.txt and ref.txt ----------------------------- The list of remarks to volume I (rem.txt) includes information that supplements the main table for 2167 stars. In contrast to the printed bilingual version of the 4th GCVS edition (Kholopov et al. 1985-1988), all remarks in the file are given only in English and generally correspond to the English text of the remarks in the printed edition. The remarks contain, in particular, information on variable stars in double systems, on period variability, on secondary minima of eclipsing variables, and on proximity to star clusters and nebulae in the sky. For unique variable stars, the remarks give detailed descriptions of the variability pattern. The preliminary version of bibliographic references (ref.txt) for volumes I-III of the 4th edition contains 12979 references to the literature from the main table and remarks. All references in Cyrillic alphabet in the printed version were transliterated into the Latin alphabet in this file.