9 Galway Kinnell first editions are documented on this shelf, from What a Kingdom It Was (1960) to When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone (1990) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Galway Kinnell 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 Galway Kinnell copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- What a Kingdom It Was — 1960 · Houghton MifflinKinnell's first book, including The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World. First edition, Houghton Mifflin, cloth-backed boards in the photo-illustrated dust jacket with a red top-stain. First printing carries no later-printing statement, per Houghton Mifflin practice of the period. US Houghton Mifflin is the true first edition; the author's debut, with no prior edition. No book club edition of the first.
- Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock — 1964 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1964, the poet's second collection. The first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page, per Houghton Mifflin convention of the period. Bound in brown patterned paper over boards with white lettering to the front cover and an off-white cloth spine stamped in brown; octavo of vi, 58 pages. Issued in a dust jacket that should…. US Houghton Mifflin (1964) is the true first; no prior edition, and this collection followed the poet's first book. No book club edition.
- Black Light — 1966 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1966, cloth with dust jacket; dust jacket designed by Leo and Diane Dillon. Kinnell's only novel. A revised edition followed in 1980; the 1966 printing is the true first. US Houghton Mifflin, 1966; Kinnell's only novel. The 1966 first edition precedes the 1980 revised text. No book club edition.
- Body Rags — 1968 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition, Houghton Mifflin, cloth with dust jacket. Contains 'The Bear' and 'The Porcupine.' Identified by the absence of any later-printing statement, per Houghton Mifflin convention of the period. US Houghton Mifflin (1968) precedes the Rapp & Whiting (London) UK edition of 1969. No book club edition.
- The Book of Nightmares — 1971 · Houghton MifflinFirst printing in blind-stamped black cloth with red spine titling; dust jacket with Howard Zimmon black-and-white illustrations printed in red, unclipped with original price. Copyright page states the first printing with no later-printing line. Cloth ISBN 0395120977 (a simultaneous wrappers issue, ISBN 0395120985, also exists; the cloth is the collector's first). The US Houghton Mifflin 1971 edition is the true first. A UK Bodley Head edition with slightly revised text followed, so the US precedes. Signed copies exist. The work is a single long poem in ten parts. Distinguish from the UK Bodley Head issue and from the simultaneous softcover, and from later printings retaining the same jacket; check the copyright page for the printing statement.
- The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World: Poems 1946-1964 — 1974 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1974, cloth with dust jacket. A retrospective gathering early work; first appearance in this form. Note that the subtitle appears in variant forms ('Poems 1946-1964' and 'Poems 1953-1964') across printings. US Houghton Mifflin, 1974; first-thus retrospective collection. No book club edition.
- Mortal Acts, Mortal Words — 1980 · Houghton MifflinFirst printing stated on the copyright page with no added later-printing line; clothbound in dust jacket with the original price intact. Cloth ISBN 0395291259; a simultaneous wrappers issue (ISBN 0395291267) also exists, with the cloth being the collector's first. The US Houghton Mifflin 1980 clothbound edition is the true first. This is the source volume for poems later gathered in the 1982 Selected Poems. Later printings carry an added printing statement; the jacket is otherwise unchanged. Do not confuse the wrappers issue with the cloth first.
- The Past — 1985 · Houghton MifflinFirst edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1985, cloth with dust jacket. First printing indicated by the number line, per Houghton Mifflin convention of the 1980s. US Houghton Mifflin, 1985. No book club edition.
- When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone — 1990 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, October 1990 — Kinnell's tenth poetry collection, about 69 pages. The first printing is the cloth hardcover in dust jacket, ISBN 0-394-58856-8, with the 'FIRST EDITION' statement and the number line intact on the copyright page per Knopf convention; the first-state jacket carries the original printed price at the flap. A Vintage/Knopf trade paperback (ISBN 0-679-73281-0)…. US Alfred A. Knopf, October 1990, cloth in dust jacket (ISBN 0-394-58856-8) is the true first. No book-club edition. Distinguish the 1990 Knopf cloth first (ISBN 0-394-58856-8) from the later Vintage trade paperback (ISBN 0-679-73281-0); confirm the stated 'FIRST EDITION' with the Knopf number line on the copyright page.
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