Tennessee Williams First Editions

• Battle of Angels — 1945 · PharosIssued as Pharos Numbers 1 and 2, a double number of the periodical devoted to Williams, Murray, Utah, 1945; printed grey wrappers with yapped (overhanging) edges. Williams's first separately published work and first book. Includes a note by Margaret Webster and Williams's own account of the Boston production. True first appearance in this form; the play was later reworked as Orpheus Descending. The Pharos periodical double issue precedes any separate book form. No book-club issue. This was the sole issue of Pharos; later reprints are clearly identifiable as later.
• The Glass Menagerie — 1945 · Random HouseCopyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' (standard Random House practice). Approximately 5,000 copies. Frontispiece photograph from the original production. Issued in cloth binding color variants (rose-pink, brick/reddish-orange, dull red) with no established priority among them. Crandell A1.1.a. US Random House 1945 is the true first edition (Williams' first published full-length play in book form; precedes the UK John Lehmann edition). Author-signed copies are inscribed trade copies. Distinguished from reprints by the 'FIRST PRINTING' slug on the copyright page; later Random House printings drop that slug or add printing history. Not a common book-club target.
• A Streetcar Named Desire — 1947 · New DirectionsFirst edition, first printing, New Directions, 1947, 171 pp., with a frontispiece reproducing Lester Polakov's sketch for the Broadway set. First state has the textual error on page 161, line 17: the speech is prefixed 'Stella' where it should read 'Blanche.' Issued in Alvin Lustig's pink pictorial paper boards, the board design identical to his celebrated Lustig dust jacket (the boards are sometimes described as…. US New Directions 1947 is the true first; the first UK edition (John Lehmann, London) did not follow until 1949. There is no separate signed/limited issue — 'signed' copies are author-inscribed trade copies. Not a book-club target. Reprints (second printing onward) state the printing on the copyright page and correct the page 161 'Stella'/'Blanche' error. The pink Lustig boards and priced Lustig jacket paired with the uncorrected page 161 point are the key first-printing identifiers.
• American Blues: Five Short Plays — 1948 · Dramatists Play ServiceActing-edition format in dark blue stapled wrappers, Dramatists Play Service, 1948. Notable first-issue point: the author's first name is misspelled Tennesse (missing the final e) on the front wrapper. Collects five short plays: The Dark Room, Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, The Case of the Crushed Petunias, The Unsatisfactory Supper, and Moony's Kid Don't Cry. Crandell A6.I.a. DPS acting-edition first; no hardcover was issued, so this wrappered acting edition is the true first of the collection. No book club. Later DPS printings are noted on the copyright page and lack the Tennesse cover misspelling of the first issue.
• One Arm and Other Stories — 1948 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1948. The edition comprises 50 deluxe copies printed on Virgil paper and signed by Williams on the limitation leaf, plus 1,500 regular copies on specially made laid paper (roughly 1,550 total). The key point of issue is the copyright state of the title leaf: the earliest copies (only about twenty are thought to survive) carry an uncorrected title page crediting the copyright to New Directions;…. The true first is the 1948 New Directions first printing. Within it, the 50 signed copies on Virgil paper are the deluxe issue and the 1,500 laid-paper copies are the regular issue; both belong to the same first printing. The earliest and most desirable state is the uncorrected title leaf crediting copyright to New Directions (before the cancel). No book club. Both the signed deluxe and the regular copies are part of the single first printing; the meaningful distinction is the uncorrected versus cancel (corrected) title leaf, not a separate later trade issue.
• Summer and Smoke — 1948 · New DirectionsNew Directions, New York, 1948, with "First Edition" stated on the copyright page. Bound in pale blue cloth with the title stamped in black on the spine; octavo, pp. x + 130, illustrated with black-and-white photographic reproductions of the original production printed on coated paper. The first-issue dust jacket carries a design by Alvin Lustig and lists three Tennessee Williams plays on the rear flap; the…. The US New Directions edition of 1948 is the true first; the UK John Lehmann edition is later. No early book-club issue; later New Directions printings are stated as such on the copyright page and lack the First Edition designation.
• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone — 1950 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1950. Williams's only novel (a novella). A signed limited edition of 500 copies (half vellum and patterned boards, in acetate and slipcase with paper label) was issued alongside the trade edition; the trade first is cloth in a dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig. Later printings are stated on the copyright page. New Directions issued the US edition in 1950; John Lehmann published the UK edition (with a Cecil Beaton dust-jacket illustration) the same year. Sources do not establish clear precedence between the two 1950 editions, so treat the New Directions edition as the American first rather than asserting it precedes the London printing. No early book-club edition. Distinguish the first from later New Directions printings, which are stated on the copyright page.
• The Rose Tattoo — 1951 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1951. First issue in rose cloth stamped in black, in a pink-and-white dust jacket depicting a rose (design by Alvin Lustig). Dedication reads 'To Frank, in return for Sicily' (for Frank Merlo). US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed. No early book-club edition.
• Camino Real — 1953 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1953. Bound in light brown khaki cloth lettered in black on the spine, in the original black-and-white pictorial dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, with the printed price present on the jacket. Includes Williams's Foreword and Afterword. The first printing carries no listing of later printings on the copyright page. US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1958. No early book-club edition. New Directions did not use a 'First Edition' statement for this title; the first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing notation on the copyright page (and on the jacket flap). Later printings within the same first-edition binding are stated on the copyright page (second, third printing, and so on).
• Hard Candy: A Book of Stories — 1954 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1954. The signed limited issue precedes/parallels the trade issue and is numbered to 100 copies (with roughly 135 produced in total), signed by Williams. The key distinction is textual: the limited issue carries a cancel title page and adds the story 'The Kingdom of Earth,' which was omitted from the trade issue titled simply 'Hard Candy.' The trade issue is cloth in a dust jacket. The 1954 signed limited issue (numbered to 100 copies) precedes/accompanies the trade issue and is distinguished by its cancel title page and the added 'Kingdom of Earth' story. No book-club edition.
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — 1955 · New DirectionsFirst printing has NO reference on the copyright page to the prior appearance of the preface in the New York Times, and NO Joseph Mielziner (and Lucinda Ballard) production credit on page xii; both are added in later printings (the key Crandell points). Contains two versions of Act Three (Williams' original plus the Broadway revision) with Williams' 'Note of Explanation.' Alvin Lustig-designed dust jacket, the…. US New Directions 1955 is the true first. Pulitzer Prize 1955. The presence of both third-act versions is intrinsic to the first edition, not a later addition. Later printings add the New York Times citation to the copyright page and the Mielziner/Ballard credit on page xii; the first printing lacks both. Verify against Crandell.
• Baby Doll (screenplay) — 1956 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1956. First edition in cloth (yellow) with a dust jacket. Screenplay text, with the two one-act plays from which it derived ('27 Wagons Full of Cotton' and 'The Long Stay Cut Short; or, The Unsatisfactory Supper'). US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1957. No book-club edition. A Signet paperback appeared separately and is not the first edition.
• In the Winter of Cities (poems) — 1956 · New DirectionsNew Directions, 1956, Williams's first collection of verse, issued in two states. The signed limited (Crandell A16.1.a) is one of 100 numbered copies signed by Williams, printed by Peter Beilenson at the Peter Pauper Press, in white vellum boards with gilt spine titling in a matching numbered slipcase. The trade issue is in quarter black cloth over patterned boards with a dust jacket. The signed limited is the…. US New Directions 1956 is the true first. Both the signed limited (100 copies, vellum, slipcase) and the trade cloth issue are 1956 New Directions; the limited is the leading point. A revised and enlarged edition appeared later. No book club edition.
• Orpheus Descending, with Battle of Angels — 1958 · New DirectionsFirst edition, New Directions, 1958. Ninety-six pages, bound in publisher's blue cloth stamped in black on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the printed price present on the front flap (unclipped copies retain it). The volume pairs the rewrite, Orpheus Descending, with the original 1940 play, Battle of Angels. Recorded as Crandell A19.1.a in the Williams descriptive bibliography. US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed. No early book-club edition.
• Suddenly Last Summer — 1958 · New DirectionsSlim cloth volume in dust jacket; New York, New Directions, 1958. Issued as a standalone first edition, 90 pages, in maroon cloth with white spine lettering. The first-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap and lists thirteen Williams titles on the rear flap, with the jacket art keyed to the 'Garden District' staging; the printed price should be present, though publishers' file copies are…. US New Directions is the true first edition of the standalone play. The play premiered off-Broadway in January 1958 within the double bill Garden District, paired with the one-act Something Unspoken; the London Garden District collection (Secker and Warburg) followed in 1959. George W. Crandell's descriptive bibliography of Williams is the standard authority for confirming first-issue points. No book club edition.
• Garden District (Something Unspoken; Suddenly Last Summer) — 1959 · Secker & WarburgGreen cloth with silver spine lettering, in dust jacket; Secker and Warburg, London, 1959. Collects the two one-acts Something Unspoken and Suddenly Last Summer. This is the UK first collected edition under the Garden District title. The component play Suddenly Last Summer appeared first in the US New Directions 1958 edition, so this UK collection is a first-thus for the paired grouping rather than a true first of the individual play. No book club edition.
• Sweet Bird of Youth — 1959 · New DirectionsNew York, New Directions, 1959; first edition, an octavo of 114 pages issued in cloth with the author's foreword. New Directions of this period carried no printer's number line, so the first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing statement on the copyright page. The first-issue dust jacket is the white pictorial jacket, and a correct first should retain the original printed price on the front…. US New Directions 1959 is the true first edition. The UK Secker and Warburg edition followed in 1961. No early book club edition. Later New Directions paperbook printings in the same white jacket are distinguished from the 1959 first by their printing statements and later ISBN/pricing.
• Period of Adjustment — 1960 · New DirectionsCloth in dust jacket; New York, New Directions, 1960, the full title being Period of Adjustment: High Point Is Built Over a Cavern, a Serious Comedy. The first-issue dust jacket carries artwork by Harold Bruder, and an unclipped jacket retains the printed price on the front flap. The US New Directions edition of 1960 is the true first edition. The UK Secker and Warburg edition followed in 1961. No book club edition of note; later New Directions printings and the paperback acting editions follow the 1960 first.
• The Night of the Iguana — 1962 · New DirectionsOctavo, New York, New Directions, 1962, collating [6], 7-128 pages, bound in black cloth with green lettering on the spine, and issued with a frontispiece. The first-state dust jacket is illustrated by Nicola Wood and carries its printed price on the front flap (unclipped on an as-issued copy). The US New Directions edition is the true first edition in book form, published in 1962 (the play premiered on Broadway in late 1961, but the book followed the next year). The UK Secker and Warburg edition followed in 1963. No early book club edition; the earliest state is the New Directions cloth first printing in the Nicola Wood jacket.
• The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore — 1964 · New DirectionsCloth in dust jacket; New York, New Directions, 1964. First issue carries the original page layout; only a small number of copies were bound with that layout before it was largely suppressed and reset. US New Directions 1964 is the true first edition in book form. No published 1963 book edition precedes it; the 1963 date refers to the play's Broadway premiere of an earlier stage version, which Williams revised for the 1964 publication. A separate Dramatists Play Service acting edition also exists. No book club edition.
• The Knightly Quest: A Novella and Four Short Stories — 1966 · New DirectionsFirst edition, New Directions, New York, 1966. Clothbound in dust jacket reproducing a Salvador Dali drawing (Cavalier of Death) on the front panel. Novella plus four short stories, 183 pages. A simultaneous New Directions paperbook was also issued. US New Directions 1966 is the true first. The UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1968 in an expanded form (a novella and twelve short stories), so it is a later and textually different issue, not the first. No book club edition traced for the first printing.
• The Two-Character Play — 1969 · New DirectionsFirst edition, New Directions, New York, 1969, issued only as a signed limited edition of 350 numbered copies signed by Williams (Crandell A35.I). Printed at the Spiral Press; publisher's cloth in a matching slipcase. No ordinary trade issue preceded it; the work was later reworked and reissued. The 1969 New Directions signed limited of 350 copies is the true first book appearance. Williams later revised the text as Out Cry (1973), and a trade New Directions edition of The Two-Character Play appeared afterward, so those are later. No book club edition.
• Dragon Country: A Book of Plays — 1970 · New DirectionsFirst edition, New Directions, New York, 1970 (Crandell A37.1.a). Hardbound issue in blue cloth-covered boards with spine titling in orange and a dust jacket. A New Directions paperbook (NDP287) was issued simultaneously in wrappers. Collection of shorter and experimental plays. US New Directions 1970 is the true first. Cloth and paperbook wrappers were issued simultaneously. No book club edition.
• Small Craft Warnings — 1972 · New DirectionsFirst edition, New Directions, New York, 1972, issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers (NDP348). The trade clothbound first has a dust jacket bearing the printed price on the front flap. Octavo, 86 pages. US New Directions 1972 is the true first. The UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1973 and is a later issue. A New Directions book club edition does exist and must be distinguished from the trade first. The book club copy is in ecru cloth with the spine stamped in black, typically carries an unpriced (unclipped) jacket, may show a blind-stamp on the rear board, and is sometimes found with a book club newsletter laid in. The trade first is identified by the printed price on the jacket flap and the absence of a blind stamp.
• Out Cry — 1973 · New DirectionsFirst edition under this title, New Directions, New York, 1973 (Crandell A39.1.A). Issued in cloth with dust jacket and simultaneously in wrappers. This is Williams's revision of The Two-Character Play. US New Directions 1973 is the true first appearance under the title Out Cry. It revises the earlier The Two-Character Play (1969 signed limited). No book club edition traced.
• Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed — 1974 · New DirectionsNew Directions 1974, first printing. A book of eight stories. The hardcover issue is bound in green cloth stamped in black and carries a pictorial dust jacket designed by Gertrude Huston; a paperbound (wrappers) issue was released simultaneously. The clothbound jacket should retain its printed price. US New Directions 1974 is the true first. The UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1975, a year later, so the US precedes clearly rather than being close behind. No book club edition.
• Memoirs — 1975 · DoubledayDoubleday, Garden City, 1975. First edition stated on the copyright page (later Doubleday printings drop the statement). Trade issue in half black cloth with illustrated dust jacket; profusely illustrated with photographs. US Doubleday 1975 is the true first. UK W.H. Allen followed in 1976. A signed limited edition, slipcased and signed on the limitation page, was issued alongside the trade edition. Later Doubleday printings drop the First Edition statement. No early book club edition.
• Moise and the World of Reason — 1975 · Simon & SchusterSimon & Schuster, New York, 1975, first printing; black cloth with blue and silver lettering on the spine, octavo, paginated [8], 11-190, [2], in a dust jacket that should carry its printed price on the front flap. The first printing carries a full number line including the 1 on the copyright page. Williams's late novel. A signed limited edition (issued in a small numbered run) exists alongside the trade first. US Simon & Schuster 1975 is the true first; UK W.H. Allen followed in 1976. No early book club edition.
• Vieux Carré — 1979 · New DirectionsNew Directions, New York, 1979, first printing of the revised text (roughly 116 pages). The cloth issue is bound in publisher's olive-green coarsely woven 'V' cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, in a pictorial dust jacket bearing its printed price on the flap. A simultaneous wrappers issue (New Directions Paperbook NDP 482) was published under a separate ISBN. US New Directions 1979 is the true first publication in book form. The play premiered on stage in 1977, but the New Directions edition prints the revised text. No book club edition.
• A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur — 1980 · New DirectionsNew Directions, New York, 1980, first printing. Issued simultaneously in a cloth trade issue (ISBN 0-8112-0756-0) and a wrappers issue as New Directions Paperbook NDP497 (ISBN 0-8112-0757-9). The cloth issue is bound in beige cloth with green spine lettering, in a green pictorial dust jacket with the printed price on the flap. US New Directions 1980 is the true first in book form; the cloth and wrappers issues appeared together, with the cloth issue generally regarded as the primary collectible form. No book club edition.
• Clothes for a Summer Hotel — 1983 · New DirectionsNew Directions, New York, 1983, first trade printing (issued posthumously); blue cloth with silver spine lettering, in a pictorial dust jacket, with a simultaneous wrappers issue. A ghost play concerning F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The Dramatists Play Service acting edition of the earlier text appeared in 1981 and precedes the trade text. Williams then revised that text for the 1983 New Directions edition, which is the standard trade first and the first appearance of the final revised text. No book club edition.

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