# Is "All My Pretty Ones" by Anne Sexton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of All My Pretty Ones by Anne Sexton (Houghton Mifflin, 1962) is identified by: Houghton Mifflin first printing, identified by the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page. US true first; a National Book Award finalist.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Houghton Mifflin first printing, identified by the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page
- Opens with an epigraph drawn from a Kafka letter
- Issued in decorated boards with the dust jacket priced on the flap
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anne Sexton |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Houghton Mifflin first printing, identified by the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Sexton's second book. Houghton Mifflin first printing, identified by the 'First Printing' statement on the copyright page. Opens with an epigraph drawn from a Kafka letter. Issued in decorated boards with the dust jacket priced on the flap.

## Is this the true first?
US true first; a National Book Award finalist. Precedes the later UK Oxford appearance.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. Later printings replace the clean first-printing statement with a printing line on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *All My Pretty Ones* by Anne Sexton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/all-my-pretty-ones
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.