8 Anne Waldman first editions are documented on this shelf, from Giant Night (1968) to Kill or Cure (1994) across 7 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Anne Waldman 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 Anne Waldman copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Giant Night — 1968 · Angel Hair BooksThe true first is the 1968 Angel Hair edition: a slim mimeographed pamphlet in wrappers, limited to about 100 copies, with a cover by George Schneeman. The 1970 Corinth issue is a later, larger trade edition of roughly 3,000 copies (about 2,000 in wrappers, 1,000 in cloth) and is not the first. Being a small mimeo production, the 1968 pamphlet carries no printing statement or number line. Precedence: the 1968 Angel Hair mimeographed pamphlet precedes the 1970 Corinth trade edition. Do not treat the Corinth issue as the first. No book club edition.
- Baby Breakdown — 1970 · Bobbs-MerrillFirst edition issued in cloth (purple/plum cloth, spine lettered in metallic blue) with dust jacket, front and back cover photographs by Joe Brainard. This was Waldman's first book from a major trade publisher. A number line or explicit later-printing statement is the reliable check for the first printing. True first is the 1970 Bobbs-Merrill trade edition. No book club edition.
- Fast Speaking Woman — 1975 · City Lights BooksFirst edition in wrappers, perfect-bound, 76 pages, Pocket Poets Series No. 33; cover design by Joseph J. Krysiak with a photograph by Sheyla Baykal. First printing shows the price on the rear cover and no later-printing notice on the copyright page. The expanded, revised edition of 1996 is a distinct first-thus, not the true first. True first is the 1975 City Lights wrappered original; the later expanded edition (1996) is a distinct first-thus. No book club edition.
- Journals & Dreams — 1976 · Stonehill PublishingFirst edition issued in two simultaneous formats: a hardcover in burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering in an illustrated dust jacket, and a pictorial-wraps paperback. 211 pages. Confirm the first printing by the absence of any later-printing statement. True first is the 1976 Stonehill issue, present in both cloth-in-dust-jacket and pictorial-wraps states. No book club edition.
- Makeup on Empty Space — 1984 · Toothpaste PressFirst edition in two forms: a trade issue of about 1,450 sewn softcover copies in wrappers, and a deluxe hardcover limited to about 100 signed and numbered copies. Cover illustration by Susan Hall; author photograph by Gerard Malanga. Published in West Branch, Iowa. True first is the 1984 Toothpaste Press issue; the signed/numbered hardcover of about 100 copies is the deluxe state of that first edition. No book club edition.
- Helping the Dreamer: New and Selected Poems 1966-1988 — 1989 · Coffee House PressA paperback original: first edition, first printing in glossy pictorial wraps, 240 pages, published September 1989. No hardcover trade edition was issued, so the first is the wrappered original; confirm the first printing by the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page. True first is the 1989 Coffee House Press wrappered paperback original. No book club edition.
- Iovis: All Is Full of Jove — 1993 · Coffee House PressWrappers (paperback original). Book I of the Iovis project (full title Iovis: A Poem [All Is Full of Jove], Book I). Iovis Book II followed in 1997; the complete Iovis Trilogy was collected in 2011. First printing carries no statement of later printings. True first of Iovis Book I is the 1993 Coffee House Press wrappered original. No book club edition.
- Kill or Cure — 1994 · Penguin BooksPerfect-bound in pictorial wrappers in the Penguin Poets series, the first printing carries a full descending number line ending in 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1) on the copyright page. The octavo runs to about 260 pages; the cover art is credited to Maureen Hunter. The volume gathers new work plus previously uncollected poems and prose, including a section of the ongoing Iovis. As a paperback original, look for the…. True first is the 1994 Penguin Poets wrappered original; there was no clothbound issue. No book club edition.
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