11 Kathy Acker first editions are documented on this shelf, from Kathy Goes to Haiti (1978) to Bodies of Work: Essays (1997) across 6 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Kathy Acker 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 Kathy Acker copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Kathy Goes to Haiti — 1978 · Rumour PublicationsFirst printing, Rumour Publications, Toronto, 1978, issued only in illustrated softcover wrappers with drawings by Robert Kushner; a small square-octavo volume of roughly 145 pages carrying ISBN 0-88907-010-5. There was no simultaneous hardcover; the wraps issue is the sole first-edition format. A small print run of approximately one thousand copies. True first is the scarce 1978 Rumour Publications (Toronto) wraps edition; the work was later collected in 'Literal Madness' (Grove, 1988), and a UK Flamingo/Paladin paperback followed, none of which precede the Rumour first. None notable.
- Blood and Guts in High School — 1984 · Grove PressWritten in the 1970s and copyrighted 1978, the book first reached print in 1984. The Grove Press (New York) edition is the US first, issued both in cloth and in wraps, with the printed price present on a first-state jacket. A notable text point of the original 1984 setting: in the rush to publish, both Grove and Picador printed the final two sections, 'The Journey' and 'The World,' in reversed order; this…. UK first precedes: Picador (an imprint of Pan Books), London, January 1984, whose first print run sold out within three weeks. The Grove (New York) edition appeared essentially concurrently the same year and is the US first; bibliographers generally treat the UK Picador as the true first. Both original 1984 issues share the reversed final-section text. None notable. A corrected text, with 'The Journey' and 'The World' restored to intended order, marks Grove's 2017 anniversary edition, distinguishing it from the original 1984 printings.
- Don Quixote: Which Was a Dream — 1986 · Grove PressFirst US edition was issued as a Grove Press Evergreen trade-paperback original (wraps), priced on the back cover; 207 pages. A clothbound issue was announced but its existence as a published trade state is not reliably documented, so do not rely on a cloth point. True first is the 1986 Grove Press (New York) Evergreen trade-paperback original. The UK Paladin (Grafton/Collins) edition was issued the same year. None notable.
- Empire of the Senseless — 1988 · Grove PressFirst printing identified on the copyright page (Grove used a number line on the copyright page in this period). Issued in hardcover: publisher's navy cloth over paper-covered boards, spine stamped in silver, in an illustrated dust jacket with the printed price intact. Later-printing dust jackets carry a small letter code on the rear panel. True first is the 1988 Grove Press (US) hardcover. The UK Picador edition, also 1988, was a paperback (wraps). None notable.
- Literal Madness: Three Novels — 1988 · Grove PressFirst combined edition, issued in hardcover (cloth-backed boards) with dust jacket and printed price. Collects 'Kathy Goes to Haiti,' 'My Death My Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini,' and 'Florida.' A Grove paperback followed later (1994). True first collected edition is the 1988 Grove hardcover. 'Kathy Goes to Haiti' first appeared 1978 (Rumour Publications, Toronto); 'My Death My Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini' first appeared 1984 (Pan Books, London); 'Florida' first appeared in book form here. None notable.
- In Memoriam to Identity — 1990 · Grove WeidenfeldStated first edition on the copyright page, issued in cloth-backed boards with dust jacket (large octavo, 265 pages). The first-state jacket carries the collage/photomontage cover art and should retain the original printed price on the front flap (unclipped). True first is the 1990 Grove Weidenfeld (US) hardcover, ISBN 0-8021-1170-8. A UK Pandora hardcover (ISBN 0-04-440568-5) also appeared in 1990; sources do not establish clear month-level precedence between the two, so neither is asserted as preceding the other. None notable.
- Hannibal Lecter, My Father — 1991 · SemiotextFirst Semiotext(e) printing, issued in wraps (paperback) with printed price, in the Semiotext(e) / Native Agents series; edited by Sylvere Lotringer. Gathers early 1970s texts and a long interview with Lotringer. True first is the 1991 Semiotext(e) paperback original. None notable.
- Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels — 1992 · Pantheon BooksFirst collected edition, issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers (paperback) as issued, with printed price. Collects 'The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula,' 'I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac,' and 'The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec.'. First collected edition 1992 Pantheon. The three component novels were self-published in the mid-1970s (The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula, 1973; I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac, 1974; The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec, 1975) under small-press/serial imprints. None notable.
- My Mother: Demonology — 1993 · Pantheon BooksFirst edition, first printing; Pantheon number line reading down to 1; priced dust jacket. Orange boards with gilt spine titles. Sometimes cataloged under the full title My Mother: Demonology, A Novel (ISBN 0679403493). The Grove trade paperback (ISBN beginning 0802134) is a later, separate format. True first is the 1993 Pantheon Books (Random House) hardcover. No book-club issue commonly noted; verify by intact priced jacket and number line.
- Pussy, King of the Pirates — 1996 · Grove PressFirst edition, first printing; Grove Press number line down to 1; priced dust jacket on the hardcover. Issued in both cloth (hardcover in dust jacket) and trade wrappers in the same year. Illustrated by S. Clay Wilson. Acker's last novel. True first is the 1996 Grove Press, New York edition. None notable; confirm by number line and unclipped priced jacket on the hardcover state.
- Bodies of Work: Essays — 1997 · Serpent's TailFirst edition; paperback original bound in paper wrappers; priced. Acker's only essay collection (ISBN 1852424257). Pieces grouped under headings such as art and artists, the city, and bodies of work. True first is the 1997 Serpent's Tail (London) paperback original. A later edition adds an afterword by C. Carr. Issued only in wrappers; no hardcover or book-club state. Some databases misdate it 1996; the published wrappers edition is 1997.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Kelly Link, Ken Follett, Ken Kesey, Kingsley Amis, Kurt Vonnegut, Larry Brown.
← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.