Annie Dillard First Editions

• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek — 1974 · Harper's Magazine Press / Harper & RowFirst edition, first printing has the full number line ending in '1' and/or the Harper's Magazine Press first-issue copyright state, 1974. First-issue dust jacket priced on the front flap with NO mention of the Pulitzer Prize (Dillard won the 1975 Pulitzer for this book, so a Pulitzer-free jacket = first issue). US Harper's Magazine Press / Harper & Row (1974) is the true first—Dillard's landmark nature work and 1975 Pulitzer winner. The absence of any Pulitzer notice on the first-issue jacket is the key point; later printings/jackets add the award. Signed firsts are sought. Book-club editions lack the number-line/first-issue state and carry a blind-stamp and price-clipped jacket. Any jacket touting the Pulitzer is a later printing or state, not the first issue.
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (signed/limited and trade first points) — 1974 · Harper's Magazine Press / Harper & RowTrade first: Harper's Magazine Press (distributed by Harper & Row), 1974. The true first printing has the complete number line at the foot of the last page of text reading '74 75 76 77 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' and the code 0374 on the inner jacket flap, with the printed price on the jacket. The copyright page is dated 1974 only. Dillard's first prose book. The US Harper's Magazine Press 1974 trade first is the true first, identified by the full '74 75 76 77... 1' number line at the rear of the text. Jackets touting the Pulitzer (awarded 1975) are later. Copies lacking the number line at the rear of the text are the simultaneous book-club edition, not the trade first. A 'First U.S. Edition' statement with no number line is a later variant, not the true first printing. Verify the full number line ending in 1.
• Tickets for a Prayer Wheel — 1974 · University of Missouri PressUniversity of Missouri Press (Columbia) first edition, first printing, 1974; Dillard's first book (poems), 127+ pp. Bound in cloth-backed thin/flexible boards with gilt spine lettering (recorded cloth colors vary across copies — orchid, rose, and red — with no established precedence), in the original pictorial dust jacket, which should retain its printed price (present/unclipped on a first-issue jacket). True first US and Dillard's first book, published in 1974 just ahead of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the same year. The later Wesleyan Poetry Series edition is a reprint, not the first. No book-club edition; do not confuse with the Wesleyan (Wesleyan University Press) reissue, which is a distinct later edition rather than the 1974 University of Missouri Press first.
• Holy the Firm — 1977 · Harper & RowHarper & Row, 1977. The first printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page with no added-printing notice. Slim octavo of about 76 pages, tan paper-covered boards backed in brown cloth/linen with copper spine titling; dust jacket carries the printed price and the 'Phoenix' woodcut on the front panel. The US Harper & Row 1977 first edition. A short, intense companion to Pilgrim; firsts in fine jacket are uncommon. Identified by the 'FIRST EDITION' statement; later printings add printing notices. No major book-club edition of note.
• Living by Fiction — 1982 · Harper & RowHarper & Row (New York) first edition, first printing: the copyright page states 'FIRST EDITION' with a complete number line descending to 1, dated 1982 (ISBN 0060149604), a 192-page hardcover in the original dust jacket. The first-issue jacket carries the printed cover price on the front flap. Dillard's book of literary criticism. True first US edition of this work of criticism, published April 1982 by Harper & Row. Later printings and reprints exist; confirm the first by the stated 'FIRST EDITION' line together with the complete number line ending in 1 and the priced first-issue jacket.
• Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters — 1982 · Harper & RowFirst edition in cloth-backed boards with the Harper & Row 'FIRST EDITION' statement and the publisher number line on the copyright page. Note the Harper & Row-era caution: the house often failed to remove the 'FIRST EDITION' slug on later printings, so the first printing must be confirmed by an intact number line and not by the words alone. The first-issue dust jacket carries the original printed price, which is…. US Harper & Row (New York) is the true first, 1982. Confirm the FIRST EDITION statement together with the intact number line, since Harper & Row retained the statement on later printings; book-club issues lack the jacket price.
• Encounters with Chinese Writers — 1984 · Wesleyan University PressWesleyan University Press (Middletown, Connecticut) first edition, dated 1984 on the copyright page per their convention (ISBN 0-8195-5130-9). Issued in cloth-covered boards, generally reported as bright blue boards lettered in silver on the spine, in a pictorial dust jacket. A first-issue jacket should carry the printed price on the front flap (price present, not clipped) and identify Wesleyan University Press…. True first US edition of this journalism/essays collection; there was no separate UK first ahead of the Wesleyan printing. No major book-club edition concern. A later Harper Perennial / Harper & Row trade paperback reissue exists and is a reprint, not the first.
• An American Childhood — 1987 · Harper & RowHarper & Row, 1987. The trade first edition is identified by 'FIRST EDITION' stated on the copyright page, with the printed price present on the dust jacket front flap. Dillard's memoir of her Pittsburgh childhood. A separate signed limited edition of 250 numbered copies also exists. The US Harper & Row 1987 trade first edition; verify the stated 'FIRST EDITION' and the priced jacket. A signed limited issue of 250 copies was also produced. Book-club copies typically omit the 'FIRST EDITION' statement, are unpriced on the jacket, and may bear a blind stamp on the rear board; the stated first plus the priced jacket marks the trade first.
• The Writing Life — 1989 · Harper & RowHarper & Row (New York), 1989, states 'First Edition' on the copyright page with the number line, in a slim volume of 111 pages, issued in hardcover with dust jacket. Confirm the first by the stated First Edition together with the number line. True first US edition. Later printings exist. A first-state dust jacket carried flap copy Dillard objected to (she disliked being described merely as a writer), and Harper reportedly reprinted the jacket in response, so a jacket flap-copy variant exists on early copies; the printed price should be present on a trade first.
• The Living — 1992 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins (New York) states 'First Edition' on the copyright page with a full number line descending to 1; dated 1992. Dillard's first novel. A signed/numbered limited issue also exists; the standard trade first has the priced dust jacket. True first US edition; Dillard's first novel. Book-club editions exist and are unpriced with blind boards and no number line; confirm the 'First Edition' statement and full number line on the trade issue.
• The Annie Dillard Reader — 1994 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins (New York) first edition, dated 1994 on the copyright page, with 'First Edition' stated and a number line descending to 1. Issued in cloth over boards in a pictorial dust jacket carrying the printed price on the front flap in first state. First-thus omnibus gathering essays, poems, part of The Living, the whole of Holy the Firm, and excerpts from An American Childhood and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. First-thus omnibus collection of previously published work; the value point is the true first printing of this gathering, confirmed by the stated 'First Edition' plus the number line ending in 1. No major book-club concern noted; the Harper Perennial trade paperback (ISBN 0-06-092660-3) followed and is a reprint, not the first.
• Mornings Like This: Found Poems — 1995 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins (New York) first edition, dated 1995 on the copyright page (ISBN 0-06-017155-3), with 'First Edition' stated and a number line descending to 1. Issued in cloth over boards in a pictorial dust jacket; a first-state jacket should carry the printed price on the front flap. Collection of found poems assembled by Dillard from older sources (D.C. Beard, Van Gogh's letters, David Grayson and others). True first US edition, first printing, of this collection of found poems. Confirm the descending number line ending in 1 together with the stated 'First Edition'. No major book-club concern noted for the first printing.
• For the Time Being — 1999 · Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf (New York), 1999, states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page beneath the Borzoi colophon; the copyright page carries the standard Knopf imprint and the Borzoi device. The book runs to 205 pages (ISBN 0-375-40380-9). The first-issue dust jacket should retain its printed price at the top of the front flap and is not price-clipped in first state. True first US edition (Knopf trade first), 1999. There is no true UK precedence question; the Knopf printing is the first. The Easton Press issued a separately produced full-leather signed limited edition in 1999 (limited to about 1,100 copies, gilt edges, silk endpapers, no dust jacket) — this is a distinct publisher's edition, not the Knopf first, and should not be confused with it. Also distinct from the later Vintage paperback. The Knopf hardcover with the stated 'FIRST EDITION' and Borzoi colophon is the trade first.
• The Maytrees — 2007 · HarperCollinsHarperCollins (New York), 2007. Dillard's second novel. The first edition, first printing states 'FIRST EDITION' on the copyright page together with a full number line descending to 1. First-issue jackets carry the printed price on the front flap (present but any amount unstated). True first US edition (novel). No major book-club concern noted; the UK Hesperus edition is a separate later issue.

More Nature, Western & Americana shelves: Anya Seton, Barry Lopez, Bret Easton Ellis, Charles F. Lummis, Charles Portis, Conrad Richter.

← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.