Allen Ginsberg First Editions

• Howl and Other Poems — 1956 · City Lights BooksFirst edition, first printing: City Lights Pocket Poets Series Number Four, one of 1,000 copies, printed in England at the Press of Villiers Publications, Holloway, London (the first two printings were both English-printed). Stapled black wrappers printed in grey, with the white printed paste-on label; the earliest printings have blank inside covers. Two decisive first-issue points: (1) the dedication page names…. City Lights 1956 (Pocket Poets 4) is the true first worldwide — there is no prior edition. The first two printings were printed in England by Villiers; U.S. Customs seized imported copies of the second printing, precipitating the obscenity prosecution (People v. Ferlinghetti, 1957) that made the book famous. Author-signed copies are especially prized. Not a book-club book. Later printings state the printing ('Second Printing,' 'Third Printing,' etc.) on the copyright page, drop 'Lucien Carr' from the dedication, and from the third printing were produced in the U.S. A stated printing, a dedication lacking Lucien Carr, or a missing period after 'Harlem' marks a later issue. Note: the printed wrapper price is NOT a reliable discriminator among the early printings….
• Empty Mirror: Early Poems — 1961 · Totem Press / Corinth BooksOriginal publisher's white stapled printed wrappers with black cover lettering and cover illustration by Jesse Sorrentino; introduction by William Carlos Williams. Totem Press/Corinth Books first printing. Issued in wrappers; no trade hardcover. First edition is the 1961 Totem Press/Corinth Books wrappered issue, New York. No book club edition. Later printings note additional printings.
• Kaddish and Other Poems 1958–1960 — 1961 · City Lights Books / The Pocket Poets Series No. 14Pocket Poets Series No. 14, issued in the series' original black-and-white printed card wrappers, 100 pages. The first issue is distinguished by the Villiers (printer) imprint/address at the foot of the last text page (page 100), a ten-line blurb, and the original printed price on the rear wrapper. Later issues drop the Villiers imprint on page 100 and carry a seven-line statement on the rear wrapper. Standard…. The City Lights US edition (1961) is the true first; there is no separate UK first of equal standing. Copies signed or inscribed by Ginsberg exist and are documented. Not a book-club title. Confirm Pocket Poets No. 14 in original wrappers, and verify the first issue by the Villiers imprint present at the foot of page 100 and the ten-line rear-wrapper blurb, as opposed to later issues lacking the Villiers imprint.
• Reality Sandwiches 1953–60 — 1963 · City Lights Books / The Pocket Poets Series No. 18City Lights Books, The Pocket Poets Series No. 18, in perfect-bound (Smyth-sewn) black-and-white printed wrappers, lettered in black to the spine and in black and white to the upper wrapper, with the price printed at the upper corner of the lower wrapper (98 pages). The first printing was printed at Villiers Publications, London, in an edition of about 3,000 copies, and shows the noted point of the letter 't' in…. City Lights US (1963) is the true first edition. Confirm by Pocket Poets No. 18, the Villiers Publications printing, the dropped 't' in 'Pocket' on the copyright page, and the first-printing copyright page free of later-printing statements. Not a book-club title. Later printings are noted by added statements on the copyright page; the first printing lacks any later-printing line and retains the original rear-wrapper price.
• Airplane Dreams: Compositions from Journals — 1968 · House of AnansiWrappers. House of Anansi (Toronto) first edition, 1968; this Canadian issue precedes. The City Lights issue is the first American edition and appeared in 1969, not simultaneously. Many Anansi copies were seized by U.S. Customs under the Manufacturing Clause, and an errata/protest slip was included. The 1968 Canadian House of Anansi issue is the true first edition; the City Lights issue is the first American edition of 1969 and follows it. No book club edition.
• Planet News 1961–1967 — 1968 · City Lights Books / The Pocket Poets Series No. 23City Lights Books, The Pocket Poets Series No. 23, in the standard perfect-bound printed wrappers (144 pages). The first printing carries the statement 'First American Edition November, 1968' on the copyright page and the printer's attribution 'Printed at Villiers Publications' inside the rear wrapper. The original price is printed on the wrapper; later printings add a further printing statement to the copyright…. City Lights US (November 1968) is the true first edition. Confirm by the 'First American Edition November, 1968' copyright-page line, the Villiers Publications printer attribution, and Pocket Poets No. 23 on the wrapper. Not a book-club title. Later City Lights printings are distinguished by additional printing statements added to the copyright page; the first printing shows only the November 1968 first-edition line.
• The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965–1971 — 1972 · City Lights Books / The Pocket Poets Series No. 30City Lights Pocket Poets Series No. 30, San Francisco, 1972; printed wrappers, 188 pages. The first printing was issued simultaneously in both white and black wrappers lettered in black, with no established priority between the two, each reportedly in a run of about 5,000 copies; the printed price appears on the rear wrapper. The first printing carries no later-printing statement on the copyright page. Ginsberg…. City Lights US (1972) is the true first, Pocket Poets No. 30. First printing exists in both white and black wrapper variants issued together with no priority; confirm the copyright page carries no later-printing statement. Not a book club. Later printings are noted on the copyright page.
• The Gates of Wrath: Rhymed Poems 1948-1952 — 1972 · Grey Fox PressGrey Fox Press, Bolinas, California, 1972. Issued in stiff printed wrappers (purple, black and white). A signed limited issue of 100 numbered copies was also produced, specially bound in cloth-covered boards by Schuberth Bookbindery, signed by the author to the limitation page, no dust jacket as issued. First is the 1972 Grey Fox Press edition; the signed/numbered limited of 100 copies is the premium state. No book club edition.
• Mind Breaths: Poems 1972-1977 — 1977 · City Lights BooksCity Lights Books, San Francisco, 1977, Pocket Poets Series No. 35. First issued in printed wrappers, 123 pp. A clothbound hardcover issue (approximately 300 copies) was produced simultaneously with the wrappered printing. First is the 1977 City Lights printing; issued simultaneously in wrappers and in a clothbound hardcover. No book club edition.
• Plutonian Ode and Other Poems 1977-1980 — 1982 · City Lights BooksCity Lights Books, San Francisco, 1982, Pocket Poets Series No. 40, 112 pp, first printing. Issued in two simultaneous states: the common glossy printed wrappers, and a scarcer clothbound issue (publisher's grey cloth with a printed dust jacket, reportedly about 1200 copies). Illustrated with a full-page color plate by Elizabeth Koda-Callan. The 1982 City Lights printing is the first edition of the collected book, existing in both wrappered and clothbound states. The title poem was printed earlier and separately: it appeared in a Fall 1978 CoEvolution Quarterly / Journal for the Protection of All Beings issue, and a small separate printing of roughly 400 copies (Morgan A40) was distributed at the Rocky Flats protest benefit — both precede this collection. No book club edition. Note the clothbound issue exists alongside the standard wrappers; the wrappers state is not a later or lesser printing.
• Collected Poems 1947-1980 — 1984 · Harper & RowHarper & Row, New York, 1984; full black cloth stamped in gilt, xxii and 838 pages including index, in an unclipped red printed dust jacket (jacket design by Julie Metz) that should retain its printed price on the flap. The trade first states 'FIRST EDITION' with a full number line ending in 1. A signed, numbered limited edition was also issued. Trade first is the 1984 Harper & Row hardcover in black cloth and red jacket; the signed limited is the premium issue. A first Perennial Library paperback edition exists but is subordinate to the hardcover. No book club edition; later printings and the paperback lack the stated 'FIRST EDITION' line and the full number line ending in 1.
• White Shroud: Poems 1980-1985 — 1986 · Harper & RowTrade first edition in original red cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, in dust jacket. The trade issue states 'First Edition' on the copyright page with a number line descending to 1. A separate signed limited issue was also produced. The jacket should carry its printed price. Trade first is the 1986 Harper & Row hardcover (ISBN 0060157143). A signed limited issue exists alongside the trade issue. No book club edition.
• Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems 1986-1992 — 1994 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins (New York) trade hardcover, 1994; quarter black cloth over black paper boards with purple spine lettering and a gilt decoration on the front board, in the publisher's pictorial dust jacket. The first states First Edition on the copyright page with a number line ending in 1. First-issue jackets carry the printed cover price and are not price-clipped; spine fading of the jacket is a common condition…. Trade first is the 1994 HarperCollins hardcover. Author-signed copies typically bear Ginsberg's 'AH' device or signature dated 1994 on the title page or front free endpaper. No book club edition.
• Death & Fame: Poems 1993-1997 — 1999 · HarperCollinsUS HarperCollins hardcover, 1999, the true first. First printing is cloth (black boards) with the spine stamped in gilt, states 'First Edition' with a number line ending in 1, and includes a photographic frontispiece; foreword by Robert Creeley, the volume edited by Bob Rosenthal, Peter Hale and Bill Morgan. Published posthumously (Ginsberg died in April 1997). The dust jacket should retain its printed price. The trade first is the 1999 HarperCollins hardcover (published in the US in the spring of 1999); the UK Penguin edition followed a couple of months later the same year, so the US issue holds precedence. No book-club edition. Confirm the 'First Edition' statement with the terminal 1 in the number line, as later printings advance the line.

More Poetry, Beat & Drama shelves: Anne Carson, Anne Sexton, Anne Waldman, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Bertolt Brecht.

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