9 Michael McClure first editions are documented on this shelf, from Passage to the Outside (1956) to Scratching the Beat Surface (1982) across 8 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Michael McClure 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 Michael McClure copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Passage to the Outside — 1956 · The Jargon SocietyThe title is 'Passage,' issued as Jargon 20 and published by Jonathan Williams / The Jargon Society from Big Sur in 1956. Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, letterpress printed by the Windhover Press, cover designed by Jonathan Williams, in an edition of 200 copies. This is McClure's true first book. It is not an Auerhahn Press book and it is not dated 1958. 'Passage' (Jargon, 1956) is McClure's genuine first book and precedes the Auerhahn 'Hymns to St. Geryon' (1959). The premise that Hymns comes first is incorrect. There is no separate title 'Passage to the Outside'; the book is simply 'Passage.'. No book club edition.
- Hymns to St. Geryon and Other Poems — 1959 · The Auerhahn PressAuerhahn Press, San Francisco, 1959. Printed wrappers, hand-sewn, printed by Dave Haselwood, with a cover illustration by McClure. First edition thus, no later-printing statement. This is the first edition of this title, but it is McClure's second book, not his first: 'Passage' (Jargon, 1956) precedes it. The prior claim that this is McClure's first full book is incorrect. No book club edition.
- Dark Brown — 1961 · The Auerhahn PressAuerhahn Press, San Francisco, 1961. The standard first-edition issue is perfect-bound in printed wrappers, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood and Andrew Hoyem. A small signed hardcover issue in gilt-stamped cloth also exists. No later-printing statement. True first is the 1961 Auerhahn wrappered original. No book club edition.
- Ghost Tantras — 1964 · Privately printed by McClureSelf-published by McClure in 1964, in printed wrappers, with the 'beast language' poems and a photographic cover by Wallace Berman. No later-printing statement on the original. The much later City Lights reissue is a distinct, separate edition and not to be confused with the 1964 original. True first is the 1964 original wrappered issue self-published by McClure; City Lights only distributed it and issued a separate reprint decades later. No book club edition.
- The Beard — 1965 · Privately printed by McClureThe true first is the 1965 privately printed issue, in pictorial wraps, printed on rectos only, with the copyright page noting it was intended for actors and friends of the author only. The Coyote Books trade edition (San Francisco, 1967, with a preface by Norman Mailer) followed and is a later, separate edition. Precedence: the 1965 privately printed edition precedes the 1967 Coyote trade edition. The record's 'Coyote/1967' framing for the first is imprecise; the private 1965 printing is the true first. No book club edition.
- The Sermons of Jean Harlow & the Curses of Billy the Kid — 1968 · Four Seasons Foundation / Dave Haselwood BooksFour Seasons Foundation with Dave Haselwood Books, San Francisco, 1968 (Haselwood 17). The primary issue is saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 24 pages, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood in an edition of 1200 copies, with no later-printing statement. A deluxe issue of 50 copies was bound in printed paper-covered boards and signed. Age-toning to the wrappers is typical. True first is the 1968 wrappered original (edition of 1200, letterpress by Haselwood). The signed deluxe issue of 50 in printed boards is the same first edition in a superior binding. No book club edition.
- Star — 1970 · Grove PressGrove Press first edition, 1970, collecting the 13 Mad Sonnets, The Surge, and the play The Beard. Issued in quarter blue cloth over blue boards with a dust jacket; a paperback (Evergreen E-516) was issued simultaneously. On the cloth issue the first printing carries no statement of a later printing. True first is the 1970 Grove Press edition. The clothbound hardcover and the Evergreen paperback were issued simultaneously; the hardcover is generally the preferred collecting form. No book club edition.
- Jaguar Skies — 1975 · New DirectionsNew Directions first edition, New York, 1975, 87 pages. Issued simultaneously in a clothbound hardcover and in wrappers (New Directions Paperbook, NDP401). The hardcover is bound in cream/beige cloth with red-stamped lettering on the spine; the paperback issue is in white-and-black pictorial wraps. The first printing carries no statement of a later printing. True first is the 1975 New Directions edition. Hardcover and paperback wrappers were published simultaneously; neither has clear precedence, though the hardcover is scarcer. No book club edition.
- Scratching the Beat Surface — 1982 · North Point PressNorth Point Press first edition, 1982, subtitled Essays on New Vision from Blake to Kerouac, with photographs by Larry Keenan. Issued in aubergine cloth with gilt spine lettering and a dust jacket; first printing states no later printing. True first is the 1982 North Point Press clothbound edition in dust jacket. A Penguin paperback followed in 1994. No book club edition.
More Poetry, Beat & Drama shelves: Neil Simon, Pablo Neruda, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Philip Larkin, Philip Levine, Richard Wilbur.
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