Wallace Stevens First Editions

• Harmonium — 1923 · Alfred A. KnopfStevens's first book; Alfred A. Knopf, 1923; 1,500 copies total, bound over time in three states (Edelstein A.I.a). First binding (about 500 copies): paper-covered boards patterned in a red/blue/yellow check (Curwen-style) over a blue-cloth spine, yellow paper spine label printed in red, top edge stained red — the desirable first issue. Second binding (about 215 copies, the smallest run): pastel-striped paper…. US Knopf 1923 is the true first; there is no prior UK edition. The patterned check-paper boards with red-stained top edge (Edelstein A.I.a) are the wanted first binding; the pastel-striped and plain blue-cloth states are later bindings of the same first-edition sheets. No book club. Do not confuse the 1923 first with the 1931 Knopf 'second edition,' a revised text that DROPS three 1923 poems ('The Silver Plough-Boy,' 'Exposition of the Contents of a Cab,' 'Architecture') and ADDS fourteen new ones (including 'Sea Surface Full of Clouds' and 'The Death of a Soldier'). The 1931 reissue is distinguished by its 1931 date, the changed contents, and its own binding states — listings….
• Ideas of Order — 1935 · Alcestis PressTrue first: the Alcestis Press limited edition of 165 signed copies (20 numbered I-XX on Duca di Modena handmade paper for presentation, 135 numbered 1-135 on Strathmore all-rag paper, plus about 10 out-of-series for review), issued in wrappers, designed and hand-set by Lew Ney. The Knopf trade edition of 1936 followed, expanded by additional poems. The Alcestis Press 1935 signed limited (165 copies) precedes the Knopf 1936 trade edition, which is a separate expanded first-thus adding three poems. Collectors should note the Alcestis issue is in wrappers, not cloth. No book club edition relevant to either the Alcestis first or the Knopf first-thus.
• Owl's Clover — 1936 · Alcestis PressLimited edition of 105 signed and numbered copies (20 presentation copies numbered i-xx on handmade paper, 85 numbered 1-85 on Strathmore all-rag paper), published November 1936, in original Alcestis Press format. The complete text of the poem appeared only here. US Alcestis Press is the true first. The full-length text of Owl's Clover appears only in this edition; a substantially revised and abridged version later appeared in The Man with the Blue Guitar and Other Poems (Knopf, 1937). No book club edition relevant to the first.
• The Man with the Blue Guitar & Other Poems — 1937 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, one of 1,000 copies, Knopf 1937 with the Borzoi colophon and no later-printing statement. The principal point of issue is in the dust jacket: the first-issue jacket carries the error 'conjunctioning' on the front flap, which Knopf reset to 'conjunctions' for the second-issue jacket at Stevens's insistence; the first-issue jacket is markedly scarcer. The US Knopf edition is the true first; there is no prior UK edition. No book club edition. Later printings carry an added printing statement on the copyright page.
• Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction — 1942 · Cummington PressFine-press hand-set letterpress first edition of 273 copies: 80 signed copies numbered I to LXXX on Worthy Hand and Arrows paper, 190 unsigned copies numbered 1 to 190 on Dutch Charcoal paper, and 3 lettered copies on Highclere paper. The signed numbered copies are the premium issue. US Cummington Press first edition; precedes the poem's later collection in Transport to Summer (1947). The signed limited issue is the true collectible first. No book club edition.
• Parts of a World — 1942 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, Knopf (New York), 1942, one of 1,000 copies of the first printing, with the Borzoi device on the copyright page and 'First Edition' stated; the first printing carries no later-printing or reprint statement. Bound in blue cloth, stamped in blind on the front with the spine lettered in gilt (binding design by W. A. Dwiggins), with brown topstain, octavo, [4], x, 182, [4] pp. Issued in dust jacket…. US Knopf first edition; no prior or competing edition. No book club edition.
• Esthétique du Mal — 1945 · Cummington PressFine-press hand-printed first edition of 340 copies total, with pen-and-ink drawings by Wightman Williams. Within the edition a small signed issue of 40 copies was signed by both Stevens and Williams on Van Gelder paper with hand-colored illustrations; the ordinary copies are quarter black leather over straw-paper boards. US Cummington Press first edition; the first separate appearance of the poem, before its collection in Transport to Summer (1947). No book club edition.
• Transport to Summer — 1947 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1947, limited to 1,750 copies (Edelstein A11.a.1). The first printing is bound in green paper-covered boards with a black cloth spine and a printed paper spine label, carries the Borzoi device on the copyright page, and shows no later-printing notice; many copies were issued uncut and partly unopened, in the original printed dust jacket. Collation approximately [2],…. US Knopf first edition; gathers the previously separate Cummington Press poems Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction and Esthétique du Mal. No book club edition.
• The Auroras of Autumn — 1950 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, one of 3,000 copies, with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page beneath the Borzoi device and no additional printing noted. Issued in dark blue cloth lettered in gilt, in a dust jacket. The US Knopf edition is the true first; there is no prior UK edition. No book club edition.
• The Necessary Angel — 1951 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, Knopf, of Stevens's self-selected prose essays on reality and the imagination (Edelstein A17.a.1), collating xii,176,[2] pages. Bound in green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt and decorative blind-embossing to the front cover, with a green top-stain. First-issue dust jacket designed by Harry Ford; the priced jacket should be present. The copyright page of the first printing carries no…. US Knopf first edition precedes the Faber and Faber UK edition (1960). Prose rather than verse, but the true first appearance of the collection. No book club edition.
• Collected Poems — 1954 · Alfred A. KnopfWon the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the 1955 National Book Award. First printing carries 'First Edition' on the copyright page beneath the Borzoi device. Published 1 October 1954 to mark Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday; rushed into print, the first printing is noted for containing numerous textual errors. The US Knopf edition is the true first; there is no prior UK edition. No book club edition. Later printings drop the 'First Edition' statement and add a printing history.
• The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens — 1954 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst edition, issued for Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday and awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the volume was published in a limited, unsigned numbered edition of 2,500 copies. First-printing copies are bound in maroon-brown cloth with a yellow topstain and carry the Sylvia Salmi frontispiece photograph; later printings appear in different-colored cloth. US Knopf first edition; the numbered limitation of 2,500 unsigned copies identifies the true first. Genuinely author-signed copies are famously rare. No book club edition.
• Opus Posthumous — 1957 · Alfred A. KnopfEdited with an introduction by Samuel French Morse. First edition, Knopf, in brown cloth with dust jacket; Borzoi device. Gathers poems, plays, and prose, about a third appearing in book form for the first time. First printing per Knopf convention. US Knopf 1957 is the true first; the first UK edition (Faber) followed in 1959. First-thus posthumous gathering. No book club.

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