12 Adrienne Rich first editions are documented on this shelf, from A Change of World (1951) to What Is Found There (1993) across 5 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Adrienne Rich title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Adrienne Rich copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- A Change of World — 1951 · Yale University PressRich's first book, selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets (volume 48) and carrying his five-page foreword. Yale University Press first printing in dust jacket; the Auden foreword is a defining feature. US true first; a Yale Younger Poets volume. The Auden-selected debut makes association and signed copies especially desirable. No book-club edition. Later Yale printings carry printing notes that distinguish them from the first.
- The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems — 1955 · Harper & BrothersFirst edition, Harper & Brothers, cloth in dust jacket. First printing identified by the code 'H-E' on the copyright page, following Harper's letter-code convention (the code denotes the printing period). Rich's second trade collection, written on a Guggenheim Fellowship. US Harper & Brothers; no prior edition. No book club edition.
- Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law — 1963 · Harper & RowFirst edition, Harper & Row, 1963 (full title 'Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems, 1954-1962'), cloth in dust jacket, 71 pages. First printing identified by the Harper letter-code on the copyright page per the house's dated-code convention. US Harper & Row is the true first. A revised and expanded edition was issued by W.W. Norton in 1967. No book club edition.
- Necessities of Life — 1966 · W.W. NortonFirst edition, W.W. Norton, 1966 (subtitle 'Poems 1962-1965'). First printing carries the stated 'First Edition' with a complete number line on the copyright page. Issued in cloth (blue-to-teal cloth boards, gilt spine lettering) in dust jacket, with a simultaneous wrappered (softcover) issue. US Norton; begins Rich's long association with Norton. No book club edition.
- Leaflets — 1969 · W.W. NortonFirst edition, W.W. Norton, 1969 (subtitle 'Poems 1965-1968'). First printing carries the stated 'First Edition' / number line on the copyright page. Issued in cloth (black cloth, gilt spine lettering) in dust jacket, with a simultaneous wrappered (softcover) issue. US Norton. No book club edition.
- The Will to Change — 1971 · W.W. NortonFirst edition, W.W. Norton, 1971 (subtitle 'Poems 1968-1970'), black cloth in dust jacket, 67 pages. First printing carries the stated 'First Edition' / number line on the copyright page. US Norton is the true first; the UK Chatto & Windus edition (Phoenix Living Poets series) followed in 1972-1973. No book club edition.
- Diving into the Wreck — 1973 · W. W. NortonW. W. Norton first edition (full title 'Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972'). Issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers; the clothbound issue in dust jacket is the collector's form and is the scarcer of the two. Contains the title poem 'Diving into the Wreck.' Won the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry, which Rich accepted jointly in the names of all women. US true first. Note the simultaneous hardcover and trade-paperback issue: the cloth copy in jacket is the collector's first. No book-club edition. The distinction to watch is the cloth first against the simultaneous trade-paperback issue.
- Poems: Selected and New, 1950-1974 — 1975 · W.W. NortonFirst edition, W.W. Norton, black cloth boards with gilt-stamped spine, in dust jacket. First printing follows Norton practice, with no later-printing statement on the copyright page. A retrospective gathering drawn from Rich's seven earlier books plus previously uncollected poems, so this is the first-thus for the selected arrangement. US W.W. Norton is the true first edition; a first-thus selected/collected volume rather than an all-new book. No book club edition of the first.
- Of Woman Born — 1976 · W.W. NortonRich's major prose work, subtitled Motherhood as Experience and Institution. First edition, W.W. Norton, cloth in dust jacket. First printing carries a complete descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page, the standard Norton first-printing point for this period. US W.W. Norton is the true first edition of this original prose work. No book club edition of the first.
- The Dream of a Common Language — 1978 · W.W. NortonSubtitled Poems 1974-1977 and including the sequence Twenty-One Love Poems. First edition, W.W. Norton, tan cloth boards in dust jacket. First printing follows Norton practice with a complete number line on the copyright page and no later-printing statement. US W.W. Norton is the true first edition. No book club edition of the first.
- On Lies, Secrets, and Silence — 1979 · W.W. NortonSubtitled Selected Prose 1966-1978. First edition, W.W. Norton, cloth in dust jacket. First printing follows Norton practice, with a complete number line on the copyright page and no later-printing statement. US W.W. Norton is the true first edition. No book club edition of the first.
- What Is Found There — 1993 · W.W. NortonProse, subtitled Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. First edition, W.W. Norton, cloth in dust jacket. First printing identified by a complete descending number line ending in 1 on the copyright page, the standard modern Norton point. US W.W. Norton is the true first edition. No book club edition of the first.
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