6 Raymond Carver first editions are documented on this shelf, from Near Klamath (1968) to Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories (1988) across 5 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Raymond Carver 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 Raymond Carver copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Near Klamath — 1968 · English Club of Sacramento State CollegeCarver's first book: a slim collection of poems issued in stapled printed wrappers by the English Club of Sacramento State College, Sacramento, California, 1968, reported as red wraps printed in black. There is no edition statement, number line, or printing notice — the pamphlet exists in a single printing, so the imprint and date are themselves the identification, and there is no first-versus-later-printing…. The census claim is confirmed: Near Klamath is US-only, published by the English Club of Sacramento State College, Sacramento, California, 1968, and there is no UK, foreign, or original-language precedence question — no other edition exists. It is Carver's first separately published book and anchors any Carver census; the later poetry pamphlets (Winter Insomnia, 1970) do not precede it. One reference source…. None — no book-club, reprint, or later issue of Near Klamath exists in the sources consulted, the pamphlet having been produced in one small run for local distribution. Any copy presenting as this title in a binding other than stapled printed wrappers, or bearing a commercial imprint, is not this book.
- Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? — 1976 · McGraw-HillFirst printing has a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page and no later-printing statement. Issued in beige boards with a blue cloth spine, blue topstain and orange endpapers; the first-state jacket carries its printed price. Carver's first major story collection. The US McGraw-Hill edition is the true first; the UK edition follows. This collection precedes Cathedral and is Carver's breakout book. No book-club edition of note; later reprints are Vintage Contemporaries paperbacks with a different design and ISBN.
- Furious Seasons and Other Stories — 1977 · Capra PressTrue first edition: Capra Press, Santa Barbara, 1977 — Carver's second story collection, octavo, 110 pp., printed in a total edition of 1,300 copies with two simultaneous states. The trade issue of 1,200 copies is in printed wrappers: brown wraps with the title lettered in red on both the covers and the spine. A signed-and-numbered issue of 100 copies was bound in black cloth with paper labels affixed to the…. US Capra Press (Santa Barbara), 1977 is the sole true first. The collection had no separate contemporaneous UK edition — the Raymond Carver Review primary bibliography lists only the 1977 Capra printing, with these stories later absorbed into UK collections (e.g. Picador's The Stories of Raymond Carver, 1985). No original-language precedence issue. No book-club edition. The key distinction is the two 1977 states within the 1,300-copy total: 100 signed/numbered black-cloth hardcovers versus 1,200 printed-wrapper copies. Later reissues and trade paperbacks of the collection are not the Capra first.
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Love — 1981 · Alfred A. Knopf'First Edition' stated on the copyright page; the first-state jacket carries its printed price on the front flap. The Gordon Lish-edited minimalist collection; an uncorrected proof in printed wrappers also exists. The US Knopf edition is the true first; the UK Collins edition follows. Distinct from the later 'Beginners' restored-text edition (a first-thus of the unedited manuscript, 2009). No major book-club edition; the chief trap is confusing this with the 2009 'Beginners' restored edition, which has a different title, publisher and date.
- Cathedral — 1983 · Alfred A. KnopfIdentify the first by a STATED "First Edition" on the copyright page (confirmed by ABAA dealers), NOT by a "number line ending 1" — that claim is unsupported and misleading for this Knopf title. the printed price front-flap price is CONFIRMED. The Borzoi colophon is present but is not a point of issue distinguishing printings. The "signed limited edition exists" claim is UNSUPPORTED and should be removed: all…. US Knopf is the true first; UK Collins (1984) is later. The signed/limited issue is the premium state. Book-club edition lacks the full Knopf number line, has a blind-stamp, and a price-absent jacket.
- Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories — 1988 · Atlantic Monthly PressTerra-cotta cloth stamped in gilt; 393 pp.; published May 1988, three months before Carver's death. The trade first edition carries a stated First Edition / First Printing on the copyright page (no number line). Two distinct signed states precede or parallel the trade hardcover. The Franklin Library signed first edition (burgundy leather with four raised bands, gilt titling and gilt designs to both panels, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, and a sewn-in ribbon marker) preceded the trade and contains an introduction, a Special Message by Carver, that appears nowhere else in the text. Separately, Atlantic Monthly Press…. The Franklin Library leather edition is a separate signed issue, not the trade first; do not conflate the two. Book-club reprints lack the stated First Edition / First Printing and use cheaper bindings.
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