9 Diane di Prima first editions are documented on this shelf, from This Kind of Bird Flies Backward (1958) to Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years (2001) across 9 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Diane di Prima 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 Diane di Prima copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- This Kind of Bird Flies Backward — 1958 · Totem PressDi Prima's first book. Totem Press (New York), 1958, run by LeRoi Jones. Issued in wire-stitched printed wrappers with an introduction by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and drawings by Bret Rohmer. First printing carries no later-printing statement. True first is the 1958 Totem Press wrappered original. A later, more common Paper Book Gallery reprint appeared in 1963. No book club edition.
- Dinners and Nightmares — 1961 · Corinth BooksCorinth Books (New York), 1961. Di Prima's first collection of prose and poems, issued in printed wrappers designed by Remy Charlip, 94 pages. First printing carries no later-printing statement; expanded later editions are distinct. True first is the 1961 Corinth Books wrappered original. Later expanded editions add material and are not the first. No book club edition.
- The New Handbook of Heaven — 1963 · Auerhahn PressAuerhahn Press (San Francisco), 1963. The regular trade issue is perfect-bound in printed wrappers, roughly 5.25 by 7.5 inches, 48 pages, one of 1000 copies. First printing carries no later-printing statement. True first is the 1963 Auerhahn Press regular issue in printed wrappers (1000 copies). A separate signed hardcover deluxe issue of 30 copies was also produced, in printed paper-covered boards with a cloth spine and bound by the Schuberth Bindery; it is the scarcer form. No book club edition.
- Memoirs of a Beatnik — 1969 · The Olympia PressPerfect-bound in green printed wrappers, Olympia Press New York office, issued in the Traveller's Companion Series (green covers, as distinct from the pink Ophelia Press erotica line). First printing carries no statement of later printings. Later Last Gasp and Penguin editions are distinct and expanded. True first is the 1969 Olympia Press (New York) wrappered original in the Traveller's Companion Series. No book club edition.
- Revolutionary Letters — 1971 · City Lights BooksWrappers, City Lights Pocket Poets Series No. 27, published March 1971 with Ferlinghetti's calligraphic cover title. First printing carries no statement of later printings. The poem was an ongoing project (earlier pamphlet/mimeo appearances exist); the first formal book is the smallest, and later City Lights editions are expanded. True first as a formal book is the 1971 City Lights wrappered Pocket Poets No. 27; later expanded editions are first-thus. No book club edition.
- Loba: Part I — 1973 · Capra PressChapbook/wrappers, first part of the long poem, published by Noel Young's Capra Press in Santa Barbara (in collaboration with Robert Durand's Yes! Press), with illustrations by Josie Grant. First printing carries no statement of later printings. Wingbow Press later issued the collected Loba: Parts I-VIII (1978); Penguin further expanded it (1998). True first of the early Loba is the 1973 Capra Press chapbook, not Wingbow; note the later expanded collected editions. No book club edition.
- Selected Poems 1956-1975 — 1975 · North Atlantic BooksTrade paper original (also issued in cloth), North Atlantic Books, Plainfield, first printing carries no statement of later printings. An enlarged edition followed in 1977. True first is the 1975 North Atlantic Books issue; the 1977 enlarged edition is first-thus. No book club edition.
- Loba: Parts I-VIII — 1978 · Wingbow PressFirst collected/expanded Loba, gathering Parts I-VIII, Wingbow Press, Berkeley, May 1978, with illustrations by Josie Grant. Issued both in wrappers (perfect-bound, roughly 3000 copies) and in hardcover (buckram-backed red boards, wolf's-head design blocked in blind). First printing carries no statement of later printings. Penguin (1998) further expanded it. First collected (expanded) edition is the 1978 Wingbow, issued in both wrappers and hardcover; Penguin (1998) further expanded. No book club edition.
- Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years — 2001 · VikingNew York: Viking, 2001. Memoir, subtitled The New York Years, running to roughly 424 pages. Cloth-backed boards in a photographic dust jacket, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page beneath a descending number line ending in 1. The trade first is the 2001 Viking hardcover; the Penguin trade paperback that followed is a later reprint, not the first edition. No book club edition; the follow-on Penguin paperback is the only common later state.
More Poetry, Beat & Drama shelves: Dylan Thomas, Edward Albee, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Eugene O'Neill, Ezra Pound.
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